Podium hopefuls

CHANGE: Potential medallists can now get elite-level support

CHANGES to the Podium Programme qualification criteria have given hope to the likes of Nauraj Singh Randhawa and Khairul Hafiz Jantan of elite-level support next year.

Where previously only medallists at Olympic, Paralympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games were allowed into the high-performance programme, now those with the potential of winning medals in the future can also be drafted in.

There are no track and field athletes among the current batch of 97 athletes from 21 sports in the Podium Programme, which was launched in February this year.

Podium Programme officials have invited national sports associations to submit names of athletes deserving a spot in the programme under the new criteria.

Nauraj could be one of the few from athletics to make it into the programme after a year which saw him break the national record and qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The high jumper is ranked joint18th in the world in the governing IAAF’s 2016 top list with a best of 2.29 metres.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Khairul Hafiz is the fourth fastest Under-20 sprinter in the world this year after setting a new national record of 10.18 seconds in the 100m at the Malaysia Games in July.

Another candidate is triple jumper Hakimi Ismail, who had been in contention for a medal at the 2014 Asian Games before finishing sixth in Incheon.

However, Hakimi has been plagued by injuries all year and has yet to come close to his 2015 Sea Games gold medal-winning performance when he set a new national record of 16.76 metres.

All three are viewed as gold medal prospects at the 2017 Sea Games in Kuala Lumpur.

“We will have to sit down and discuss the nominations with the National Sports Council before we submit names,” said national chief coach Zainal Abas.

“Previously we tried to get Nauraj, Hakimi and (discus thrower) Irfan (Shamshuddin) into the programme based on their performances at the (2015) Sea Games.

“We were not successful then but we will consider our options when we are invited to submit names.”

Nauraj is due to undergo surgery on Tuesday for an elbow injury suffered in training in Australia but it should not affect his bid to win a third consecutive Sea Games gold medal.

Khairul Hafiz and Irfan will be sent to Australia early next year along with 16 athletes as part of their preparation for the Sea Games.