Rayzam wins gold
SEA Games hurdles champion in 2017, Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian clocked 14.12s to win gold at the recently concluded Philippines Athletics Championships in Ilagan.
KOTA KINABALU: SEA Games hurdles champion in 2017, Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian clocked 14.12s to win gold at the recently concluded Philippines Athletics Championships in Ilagan.
The 31-year-old national athlete from Keningau ousted local rivals Clinton Bautista (14.22s) and Ernest Obiena (14.85s) who took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
It was Rayzam's fourth victory in as many participation in the Philippines Open Championship. He won his last gold medal there in 2016.
However, Rayzam's time of 14.12s was just shy of the qualifying time of 14.10s for the 30th SEA Games to be held in the Philippines later this year.
“My aim of competing was to qualify for the SEA Games but what to do, I did my best. I will try again at the next championship.
“Despite failing to qualify for the SEA Games I am still satisfied. This is my first championship this year and being off the mark by just 0.02s is quite good I think,” he said when contacted in the Philippines, yesterday.
Rayzam, who won a gold medal at the previous SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, said his level of confidence had increased and that his performance should also improve as he eyes qualification at the next championship.
He will be taking part in the Singapore Open on March 28-29 and the Malaysia Grand Prix on March 30-31.
“I hope I can get qualification at the next championship,” said the Southeast Asian champion. Rayzam said he was headed for Germany for a three-month training stint after Hari Raya Aidilfitri (June) where he would join a few more championships.
For the record, Rayzam made a surprise win by clinching gold in his pet event at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, he clocked a time of 13.92s to win the ASEAN crown at the age of 18.
Although he failed to defend his title, Rayzam never stopped trying. His efforts eventually paid-off when he won again 10 years later. He clocked 13.83s to win the gold medal in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.
Rayzam also hold the national record with his time of 13.67s set at the B&S Kurpfalz Gala B Championships in Germany just before the 2017 SEA Games.
His time erased the previous record of 13.73s set by then 23year-old Nur Herman Majid at the Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994.