SEA Games: Zulfiqar gets the men’s 100m second slot

The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) has selected Muhammad Zulfiqar Ismail to fill the second slot for the men’s 100m event at the Philippines SEA Games after Jonathan Nyepa, who was announced as the top runner.

The decision means defending gold medallist Khairul Hafiz Jantan will have to settle with participating only in the men’s 4x100m event, after being listed under Category B along with Muhammad Zulfiqar, Mohd Haiqal Hanafi, and Nixon Kennedy.

In the women’s category, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli was listed for the 100m and 200m events, while the second slot for both events went to 2019 MAF Championships winners Siti Fatimah Mohamad and Nurul Faizah Mazlan, respectively.

National athletics head coach Mohd Manshahar Abd Jalil said the list was supplemented after a meeting with the coaches and MAF, which was held a day after the list of athletes was announced on Sunday.

“We discussed and placed additional athletes as required, for example, Jonathan who is listed in the 100m event, will certainly run in the 200m. We want to be fair to all athletes before making a decision because the list of names has to be submitted before Sept 2.

“There are also other athletes like Andre Anura @ Anuar, who has qualified under Category A (fully sponsored) for the men’s long jump event, we will include him in the triple jump event.

“The same goes for (women’s triple jump athlete) R. Kirthana and several other athletes. We have already submitted this list to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) for their endorsement,” he said when met at Wisma OCM, yesterday.

Based on the season’s record, Muhammad Zulfiqar (10.41s) ranked second in the country and sixth in Southeast Asia (SEA) with 1,063 points, behind Jonathan (10.37s) who is second in SEA with 1,082 points.

Commenting on the decision to choose Muhammad Zulfiqar over Khairul, who is the defending champion and national record holder of 10.18s, Mohd Manshahar said he had to make a decision based on current performances, rather than the popularity of the athlete.

“What happened before we need to take into account, but we prioritise current performance as Zulfiqar also trained and fought for the place.

“Being seven months out due to injury and coming back to record 10.50s is a big thing (for Khairul). He also worked hard to get a place, but we have to be fair (and gauge based on current performance)... Let Khairul fully recover and rebuild himself as he is still young and can do better,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Manshahar is also awaiting a decision from the women’s 400m athlete, Shereen Samson Vallabouy, who is listed in the Category A, as the athlete is still unsure about participating in the SEA Games. - Bernama