Hakimi happy to jump back into action
jump king Muhammad Hakimi Ismail who turned 30 yesterday, is looking forward to the “rebirth” of the athletics season.
Hakimi, who has not featured in any competition since winning the 2019 Philippines Sea Games gold, is looking forward to the Malaysian Athletics Grand Prix in Bukit Jalil this weekend.
Hakimi said his target is a leap of more than 15.80m, which should put him in contention for a gold.
“My personal best is 16.77m but I am not expecting to reach that mark yet because I have not competed in any competition for the last 14 months,” said Hakimi, who won his third consecutive
Sea Games gold in 2019 with 16.68m.
“I am competing to get back my form and rhythm as there were no competitions last year due to Covid-19.
“I have been training since January and I need competition to gauge my performance since reaching 16.68m in the Philippines.
“I hope to clear more than 15.80m to finish on top of the podium and my main challenge this year is to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s going to be very tough to qualify for my first Olympics, but I am not going to give up as I still have until June 30 to equal or beat the mark of 17.14m.”
Hakimi, who featured in the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, said he hopes to go to Europe after Hari Raya Aidilfitri next month to compete in three or four competitions in a bid to qualify for the Olympics.
“Competing against the top athletes in Europe will certainly push me to break my national record to win a place in the Olympics,” said Hakimi, who is the 2019 Chongqing Asian Grand Prix bronze medal winner.
“I am still waiting for the National Sports Council to approve my trip to Europe and before that, I need to do a decent jump in the Malaysian GP to go to Europe.”