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NEWS & EVENTS
Athletics team bag bronze at Malaysia Open
Monday, October 3, 2016
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The 4x100m team with their bronze medals together with coach Azmize Abdul Rahman (2nd R) at the M’sia Open athletics meet in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Picture :Courtesy of Brunei athletics team


THE national athletics team put up a strong showing at the 93rd Malaysia Open Athletics Championship 2016 in Kuala Lumpur and will return with a bronze medal.

The team of Md Fakhri Ismail, Md Asy Syafi’e Md Bohari, Md Faaizul Abdullah and Md Nur Firdaus Ar-Rasyid Hj Idris crossed the line with a time of 41.44s to finish third in the men’s 4x100m event on Saturday at Stadium Universiti Malaya.

They were aiming for a new best time but the national record remains at 40.95s set by Fakhri, Md Asy Syafi’e, Abdul Rahim Abdullah and Md Rachmat Safar during last year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore. Melaka finished on top of the podium with a time of 40.57s while Kuwait followed in second place with 41.38s.

In addition, Md Nur Firdaus also managed a new national record in the 200m event after he clocked a time of 21.64s to finish third in Heat 2 yesterday — breaking the previous record of 21.77s set by Arman Hj Md Sanif set in 1997. He then placed sixth overall for the event with a time of 21.72s in the final, which was won by Khairul Hafiz Jantan with his time of 21.10s. Md Nur Firdaus had come close to the record in his last outing at the 63rd Sabah Open Track and Field Championships earlier this month after clocking 21.85s to win a silver medal.

Athletics coach Azmize Abd Rahman was delighted with the performance of the athletes and hopes they can carry the momentum forward. “I knew we could stand on the podium for the relay event. It’s just that I wanted to know the timing from the new combination and strategy,” said Azmize in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday. “The result was quite good and we will try to improve it again for sure.

“As for the 200m, actually it was expected that Firdaus break the national record because before we came here he was already close to it,” he added. “I hope that the momentum will be carried forward as we continue to prepare for the next SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur next year,” continued Azmize. Meanwhile in the 100m event, none of the four Bruneian sprinters managed to qualify for the final on Friday.

Fakhri produced the best time for the sultanate in the event after clocking 10.97s in Heat 3 of the first round to qualify for the semi-finals. He was joined by Md Asy Syafi’e, who won Heat 4 with his time of 10.92s, and Md Faaizul, who clocked a time 11.12s in Heat 2. Rahim missed out on a semi-finals berth after finishing in fifth position in Heat 1 clocking 11.15s.

Fakhri then placed sixth in the first semi-final after running 10.96s while Md Faaizul finishing at the end of the eight-contestant field with a time of 11.12s.

Over in the second semi-final, Md Asy Syafi’e also couldn’t make it into the final race after crossing the line in fifth with a time of 11.10s.

Courtesy from Brunei Times