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Kuala Lumpur: After more than a year of non-competitive action at the international level, national triple jumper Muhammad Hakimi Ismail is looking forward to participate in a tournament in Europe after the Aidilfitri celebration in May.

Muhammad Hakimi, who last saw action at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, said he must do his best in the tournament in Europe in order to book a slot to the Tokyo Olympics scheduled in July.

“Once I get the ‘green light’ from the National Sports Council (NSC) and the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF), I hope to compete in the tournament in Europe later and continue training there. Europe especially Germany is very conducive for training and I believe it can help improve my performance and increase my chances of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics,” he said.

The three consecutive SEA Games gold medallist starting in Singapore (2015), Kuala Lumpur (2017) and the Philippines in the 2019 edition said that his preparations to qualify for the first time to the Olympics were hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The athlete who holds the national record of 16.77 metres is upset over the cancellation of several local and international tournaments due to the pandemic. “To qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games is quite challenging because many events or tournaments, especially at the Asian level, have been cancelled including the Asian Athletics Championship in China in May.

“My colleagues, Nauraj Singh Randhawa (high jump) and Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin (discus) currently in Europe are lucky because the tournaments there are running as usual,” he said. Though age is also a factor, the 30-year-old athlete from Taiping, Perak is confident of qualifying for the 2024 edition in Paris, if he does not make it to Tokyo this year.