More to come from relay quartet
WITH an average age of 19.5 years, the men’s 4x100m relay quartet who set a new national record at the Vietnam Open on Thursday, have a bright future ahead of them.
While still lagging behind Indonesia and Thailand, it should only be a matter of time before Malaysia begin making a stronger impression in the relays.
Thursday’s time of 39.62 seconds set by Haiqal Hanafi, Jonathan Nyepa, Badrul Hisyam Manap and Khairul Hafiz Jantan should put them among the contenders for gold at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games next month.
They improved on the 39.67s mark set by Izzudin Yahaya, Nixson Kennedy, Harith Ammar Sobri and Jonathan at the 2015 Sea Games in Singapore.
“The signs were there when they recorded 39.98s at the Asian Track and Field Championships in India (in early July),” said national chief coach Zainal Abas.
“The team continued to train together to prepare for the Vietnam Open after coming back from India and this has paid dividends when they managed to renew the national record.”
Most encouraging is the fact that all four national sprinters are aged 21 or below.
But with Indonesia setting the fastest time of 39.13s in the region this year and followed by Thailand's 39.38, the Malaysian quartet have their work cut out at the Aug 19-30 Sea Games.
“This is just the beginning for them. If you look at this quartet Haikal is 18, Khairul is 19, Badrul is 20 and Jonathan is 21,” explained Zainal. “This is a very young team and I’m confident we can expect much much more from them, and even this record would not last for long.”
“However, we must also be wary of the quartets from Indonesia and Thailand, who have both recorded better timing than us this year. ”
In Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, 2016 national schools double sprint gold medallist Haiqalled off the quartet before second and third runners Jonathan and Badrul combined to hand off the baton to Khairul to bring the team home first across the final.
This is the second national record in which Khairul has had a hand in breaking in as many weeks after running 20.90 seconds in the 200m at the Malaysian Open.
Even more impressive is the fact that the record set by the Malaysians came without being pushed as they blitzed the field with the second-placed team, Bo Cong An, trailing by a distant 0.95 of a second. Devinder Singh