[UPDATED] Azeem cruises to gold in Sukma men’s 100m final

KUALA LUMPUR – National sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi cruised to the finish line of the men’s 100m final to claim his first Malaysian Games (Sukma) gold medal today at Bukit Jalil National Stadium. 

The national record holder crossed the line comfortably with a time of 10.25s, ahead of Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat from Johor whose time was 10.46s. 

Negri Sembilan’s Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi came in third with a time of 10.50s. 

Azeem’s performance improved from yesterday’s semi-final run, where the 18-year-old set a time of 10.33s.

Speaking to the media after his win, Azeem said this would be his last 100m race for the year, as he would be shifting his focus to the 200m event. 

“I have achieved my target for the 100m race, I wanted to give Perak a medal and am very happy with my performance these past days. Overall it has been a good season for me so far. 

“Now I will be focusing on the 200m event on Sunday. My target for that is to finish under 21s, so I will need to recover in time for the race,” he said. 

Azeem will also be competing in the men’s 4x100m event, which will see finals take place tomorrow. 

“All that I have gone through during the Covid-19 pandemic, my hamstring injury, and the negative comments I received when I lost competitions served as motivation for me to be where I am now. 

“I bounced back from all that and came back to take what is mine,” added Azeem. 

He also said that his last competition this year would be in Japan for the World Athletics Continental Tour, where he will participate in the 200m event. 

According to a source in the fraternity, Azeem will be heading to Auburn University in Alabama, where Olympian Leroy Burrell is the head athletics coach. 

However, Azeem neither denied nor confirmed the news, adding that he would make an announcement soon on his choice of university. 

Azeem became a household name when he set a new national record of 10.09s in the 100m event at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali. 

Meanwhile in the women’s 100m race, Nor Sarah Adi from Pahang gave her state its fourth gold medal after crossing the line in 11.91s. 

The 22-year-old admitted that she had work to do after the semi-finals yesterday where she clocked 11.94s. 

“I knew I had to improve on my starting, so today I prepared ahead of time to ensure I was fully ready. Overall I am very satisfied with my performance today,” she said. 

Nor Sarah also said after the games, she would be focusing more on the pole vault event.

“There are many athletes that can take over from me in the 100m, I want to focus on pole vault as there are several major tournaments next year, including the SEA Games and Asian Games,” she added. – The Vibes, September 16, 2022.