KUALA LUMPUR – Heavy rain since early this morning has been a blessing to Terengganu athlete, Muhammad Zulfiqar Ismail who emerged as the fastest men’s 100-metre runner at the 2021 National Athletics Championships today.
The wet track condition did not affect Muhammad Zulfiqar’s running pace as he continued to accelerate, leaving his competitors behind the finish line with a time of 10.52 seconds at the tournament held at the National Sports Council Mini Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The 22-year-old athlete defeated Malaysian Grand Prix champion Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat of Johor who picked up the silver medal (10.69s) and two national athletes, namely Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) runner Jonathan Nyepa (10.72m) and defending SEA Games champion, Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi of Negeri Sembilan who finished in fifth place (10.80s).
Muhammad Zulfiqar, who did not expect to win the race, said his achievement had restored his lack of confidence after being eliminated from the 2019 SEA Games squad in Manila, the Philippines following a hamstring injury he suffered two months before the Games.
“I didn’t expect to win but when I ran earlier in the rain, it felt good, I didn’t feel tired as there were no injuries. After being injured, I admit I haven’t felt confident in myself, it took me a year to regain it,” he told reporters here today.
Despite failing to improve on his personal best record of 10.40s set in Germany in 2018, Muhammad Zulfiqar was still satisfied with today’s run when he met the qualification time set by the Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) to compete in the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, next May.
Therefore, he hopes that the time he clocked will be able to put him on the list for Hanoi later, despite the intense selection competition to carry the national challenge in the blue ribbon event later.
Meanwhile, a national athlete representing ATM Siti Fatimah Mohamad won gold in the women’s 100m event with a time of 12.27s followed by Fatin Ilyana Mat Nayan of Kedah for silver (12.32s) and bronze by another ATM athlete, S. Komalam Shally (12.34s).
Siti Fatimah admitted that the rainy weather somewhat disrupted her performance today but was still grateful to add another feather to her cap.
Meanwhile, national record holder Jackie Wong lived up to expectations in the hammer throw event when he recorded a throw of 63.76m to win gold followed by Negeri Sembilan athlete Sadat Marzuqi Ajisan who won silver (56.44m) and the bronze went to Rizad Azri Che Radzi of Perlis (44.84m).
Another record-holder, Gracie Wong was no less impressive when she won gold in the women’s category with a record of 59.79m, silver was won by Nurul Hidayah Lukman from Selangor (46.24m) and Ailenna Thipong Laga from Sarawak had to be content with the bronze medal (36.70m).The two-day tournament ends tomorrow. – Bernama, December 18, 2021
