Zaidatul finishes last in 100m final, but can still walk tall

SPRINTER Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli posted 11.61 seconds to finish last and eighth in the women’s 100m final but she can still walk with her head held high.

Zaidatul is the first athlete to reach the women’s final in 20 years, following in the footsteps of former Malaysian sprint queen G. Shanti. Shanti finished fourth in the 100m final at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

Rio Olympic sprinter Zaidatul clocked 11.70 to take the last ticket for the final from a slower semi-f final heat behind Wei Yongli of China (11.29) and Odiong g Edidiong of Bahrain (11.38).

Zaidatul, who is from Kedah, clocked a season best time of 11.59 to reach the e semi-finals as the seventh fastast est qualifier.

But there were no good news from men sprinters when Kuala Lumpur SEA Games gold medallist Khairul Hafiz Jantan and Jonathan Nyepa missed out on the men’s 100mm final.

Khairul, the national rrecord holder with 10.18, cclocked 10.45 to finish sixth iin the third semi-final heat wwhile Jonathan posted 10.46 forr fourth spot in the second semisemi-final heat. Jonathan and Khairul posted qualifying runs of 10.43 and 10.47 to finish 13th and 14th respectively. Iron man Jackie Wong Siew Cheer will leave the Asian Games a happy man after coming close to breaking his own national mark in the men’s hammer event.

The 26-year-old Jackie hurled the iron ball to a distance of 65.92m on his third attempt to finish seventh in the final at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium last night.

His national mark of 66.01m was set at the Malaysian Open Athletics Championships in Bukit Jalil in May.

Ashraf Elseify of Qatar took the gold with a distance of 76.88m ahead of Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan (74.16m).