By Mohd Khairie Khalid - Berita Harian, July 28
A strong-bound developed in South Africa last year has added rockets to the feet of the national 4 x 100 men’s team.
And sprinter Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi hopes the success achieved by the relay team at the Vietnam Open yesterday will spur them to greater heights at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.
“We were able to build a strong understanding between us when we were based (at a training camp) together in South Africa last year,” said Haiqal, who ran the first leg.
The Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School student said he did not expect them to break the national record en route to gold in Ho Chi Minh City.
“I honestly did not expect to help the team break the record in Vietnam as this is the first time we have run together in this event, but we proved that we are capable.
“Hopefully we will be able to do better at the KL Sea Games.”
Haiqal, Jonathan Nyepa, Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap and Khairul Hafiz Jantan clocked 39.62s to better the former national record of 39.67s set by Jonathan, Mohd Izzuddin Yahaya, Harith Ammar Mohd Sobri and Nixson Kennedy at the Singapore Sea Games.
Malaysia has not won a gold medal in the 4x100m since 1969, when the biennial event was still known as the Seap Games.