MISCF runners lead the way

MALAYSIAN Indian Sports and Cultural Foundation (MISCF) Selangor branch won four out of six categories at the 2nd Merdeka Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB) 21km road relay which was flagged off at the Kuala Kubu Baru Mini Stadium on Saturday.

The categories MISCF triumphed in were the men’s open, women’s open, men’s junior and boys’ open, while they also finished third in the women’s junior category.

The MISCF runners were coached by M. Arul Thevar, with most of the runners having represented Selangor at the Malaysian Indian Sports Meet over the last two years.

The top five teams in each category won trophies and cash prizes, with the champions getting additional rewards of Bata shoes and trophies.

The event was the brainchild of Malaysia’s former middle distance runner, B. Rajkumar, whose 800m national record still stands to this day.

The event was conceived to revive interest in middle distance running in the country where fresh talents could be discovered.

OCM vice-president and chairperson of Move Malaysia, Datuk Paduka Mumtaz Jaafar and Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan, were both present at the event.

Mumtaz , who is also a vicepresident of the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF), intends to recommend the top athletes from this event for MAF's development programme.

Also present were former national athletes Selvarani Shamimi, Josephine Mary, Samson Vallabouy, D. Jeyakumar and former national coach A. Tripadi.