PHNOM PENH – This year’s SEA Games men’s 100m bronze winner, Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi, urged the public, especially netizens, not to compare himself and Khairul Hafiz Jantan with national sprint champion Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi .
Haiqal reminded himself and Khairul Hafiz to pay attention to the public’s view of their abilities on the track because each athlete has their own strengths and performance.
“Every human being has their own advantages… Azeem certainly has his own talent and we also have our own,” he said when met here.
Yesterday, Haiqal clinched bronze in 10.443sec to edge out Khairul Hafiz who clocked 10.448sec to settle for fourth place on the last day of athletics at the biennial Games.
Thailand’s Soraoat Dapbang was crowned Southeast Asia’s new sprint king with his 10.37sec time for gold, only 0.02sec ahead of Singapore’s Marc Brian Louis, who clocked 10.39sec for the silver medal.
Although Khairul Hafiz performed quite well after being hampered by injury problems, Haiqal hopes that his friend will come back stronger in the future.
Azeem’s name has been mentioned as the new jewel of the country’s athletics after he broke the national 100m record with a time of 10.09sec at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia, last August.
Meanwhile, Khairul Hafiz revealed that he almost retired last year after failing to qualify for the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
However, the athlete from Melaka said national sprint coach Mohd Poad Md Kassim managed to convince him not to retire so that he could be listed again in the 4x100m quartet that brought home bronze at the SEA Games this time.
In the meantime, national men’s 400m runner, Abdul Wafiy Roslan, said the success of Umar Osman and Shereen Samson Vallabouy who each won the men’s and women’s individual 400m events as well as the success of the men’s quartet in bringing home the bronze has opened the eyes of the Malaysian Athletics Federation Association to focus on these events.
Wafiy along with Umar and two other runners, Muhammad Firdaus Mohamad Zemi and S. Tarshan, posted 3min 8.82sec to clinch the bronze, ending a medal drought that stretched to the 2013 Games in Myanmar.
On Tuesday, Umar, 20, not only won gold but also created a sensation by setting a new national record of 46.34sec, erasing the old record of 46.41sec belonging to Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin set at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Brunei in July 2001.
Umar’s success saw him end a 14-year gold drought for Malaysia, which was last won by Zafril Zuslaini in the 2009 edition in Vientiane, Laos.
Shereen, who is also the national record holder, recorded a time of 52.53sec, clinching gold in the women’s category, breaking the dominance of four-time champion Nguyen Thi Huyen from Vietnam who took silver with 53.27sec, while the bronze belonged to her compatriot, Nguyen Thi Hang who clocked 53.84sec.
Shereen, on the other hand, placed Malaysia at the top of the women’s 400m podium The last Malaysian to win the event was N. Manimagalay in the 1999 edition in Brunei. – Bernama, May 13, 2023
_and_Shereen_Samson_Vallabouy._Bernama_pic..png)
