HANGZHOU – The Malaysian women's 4x100 meter (m) quartet looked stunned when they were crowned as the bronze medallists at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in the Hangzhou Olympic Stadium here last night.
Recounting the moments after the race, senior sprinter Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli said they were puzzled when the official results took quite a while to be announced, even more confusing and emotional was when a Bahraini runner came over to congratulate them.
"When we were in the call room where we kept our bags, we were surprised that the results had not been announced yet. We were uneasy as we were held in that room for a long time; it turns out there was a change.
"After that, a Bahraini athlete came in and congratulated us. We were taken by surprise at that moment, yet very happy because it was unexpected," she said when met here.
Malaysia were awarded the bronze medal following Bahrain's quartet disqualification due to a TR24.7 violation, involving an improper baton exchange outside the designated zone, according to the official ruling.
Earlier, the national women's 4x100m quartet comprising Azreen Nabila Alias, Zaidatul, Nur Afrina Batrisyia Mohamad Rizal, and Shereen Samson Vallabouy displayed an energetic run to finish the race in fourth place with a time of 45.01 seconds.
China’s relay squad won the gold after emerging as the fastest at the finishing line in 43.39s while Thailand recorded 44.32s to take the silver.
Ths success also enabled Shereen to garner her second medal after winning a bronze in the women’s 400m race last Saturday.
Meanwhile, the participation of the national men’s 4x100m relay team comprising former national 100m record holder Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat, Jonathan Nyepa and Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi was cancelled over a TR17.3.1 violation for lane infringement.
Earlier they ended the race in the fifth place in 39.19s.
The gold went to China’s quartet with a time of 38.29s followed by Japan in 38.44s for the silver and South Korea clocked 38.74s to take the bronze.
In this regard, national women’s high jumper Norliyana Kamaruddin came out last in the event with 13 finalists after clearing a height of 1.65m.
Meanwhile, triple jump athlete Andre Anura Anuar ended in the eighth place in final of 13 jumpers to record a distance of 16.00m. – Bernama, October 4, 2023
_at_the_inter-regu final_against_Thailand._Bernama_pic..png)
