SEA Games champ fails to make cut
Published on: Saturday, August 17, 2019
By: Bernama
Kuala Lumpur: The 2017 SEA Games sprint king, Khairul Hafiz Jantan (pic) failed to meet this year’s SEA Games qualifying time of 10.37 seconds (s) at the Malaysian Athletics Championship (MAF) on Friday.At the final qualifying championship at the National Sports Council Mini Stadium, the 21-year-old athlete from Melaka, merely recorded 10.71s to end the race in second place in the final round, much slower compared to the 10.59s he recorded in the semi-final round Friday morning.ADVERTISEMENT
The time was also a far cry from his national record of 10.18s at the 2016 Sarawak Malaysian Games.
Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi of Johor won the gold medal (10.59s) while the bronze medal went to Muhammad Zulfiqar Ismail of Terengganu (10.81s).
Commenting on the time, he said that he was aware that his current performance was discouraging as he had only returned to athletics six weeks ago after being laid off for seven months due to an injury.
“I would not feel good representing the country too if my performance still does not improve. I know the physical difference when I ran after recovering from an injury as compared to the time when I achieved the time of 10.18s.ADVERTISEMENT
“I am thankful at the times I made in three championships to date. I don’t want to be pressured by what people say, because only the coach and I know the difficulties I have gone through.
“I am still young, there are many more SEA Games which I can participate in. After this, I wait for what my coach (Mohd Poad Md Kassim) has in mind (for me),” he told reporters after the event.
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At the last SEA Games, Khairul Hafiz won the gold medal with a time of 10.38s at the National Stadium, beating defending champion, Eric Shauwn Cray of the Philippines and Kritsada Namsuwan of Thailand who both recorded 10.43s.
Meanwhile, national athletics squad’s chief coach, Mohd Manshahar Abd Jalil said that Khairul Hafiz’s chance, and those of other athletes, to Manila, were not yet closed, whereby the decisions would most probably be made at the final MAF selection meeting on Sunday.
To date, he said that 15 athletes had qualified in category A (fully borne costs), while athletes nearing the qualification conditions would be considered in category B.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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“Currently, Jonathan Nyepa has passed the qualifying conditions, namely, the top three positions in South East Asia currently. Khairul has just recovered from an injury, maybe in a month or more, he can dip below 10.50s.
“Definitely, we do not want to leave behind the defending champion, we will make plans to help him. I am confident and believe, if we plan well, he can return to his best state,” he said.