Fakhrul aims to make 100m final at the YOG

KUALA LUMPUR: Sprinter Muhammad Fakhrul Abdul Aziz (pic) is racing against time to be ready for the boys’ 100m in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, from Oct 6-13.

The Form Five student of Penang Free School only started training a month ago after recovering from a hamstring injury.

He featured in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Ipoh last week and clocked a poor time of 11.18 to finish fourth in the semi-finals.

It wasn’t close to his personal best of 10.59 which he did in winning a silver in the boys’ Under-18 category at the National Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Athletics Championships in Penang last year.

The 17-year-old said he was not at his best in Sukma as he only started training a few weeks ago after recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered in the Asean School Games in Bukit Jalil in July.

“My performance in Sukma was rather poor and I’m now racing against time to be physically ready for the Youth Olympics,” said Fakhrul, who has been training at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) track.

“I didn’t have a coach to train me in Penang but fortunately, my dad (Abdul Aziz Abdullah) helped me,” he said.

Fakhrul is the first athlete from athletics to qualify for the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games. He has to clock 10.60 if he hopes to qualify for the final in the Games.

“It’ll be tough but I’ll try. I arrived in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday and with the guidance of national coach Mohd Manshahar (Abdul Jalil), I hope to push myself in Buenos Aires,” said Fakhrul, who clocked 10.62 to win the blue riband event in the National Schools (MSSM) Championships in Shah Alam in April.