KUALA LUMPUR: National men's sprinters can only compete overseas if they run 10.30 seconds in the 100m in domestic competitions.
This was stated by Malaysian Athletic Federation (MAF) technical director John Ballard.
"We want sprinters that have potential and the right conditions to compete against other sprinters in meets.
"If a sprinter can run 10.30s in domestic meets, then he has the potential and a good chance to make the 100m final in competitions in Asia.
"Even if a sprinter has experience in competing overseas but is running 10.50s in domestic meets, definitely he's not going to run much faster in overseas meets.
"Some sprinters are only good at competing in Southeast Asia level but we need real good potential sprinters who can compete at the highest level.
"If we have four sprinters that can run around 10.30s, then they definitely have a very good chance of breaking the 4x100m national record (39.09) in a competition.
"For women's sprinters, they need to clock below 12s if they hope to compete overseas.
"We will be having sport science testing on the local sprinters next month to see their potential of competing in overseas competitions," said the Australian coach.
In the Phnom Penh Sea Games in May, Haiqal Hanafi and Khairul Hafiz Jantan both clocked 10.45s in the 100m final but the former won the bronze.
Thailand's Soraoat Dabbang (10.37) and Marc Brian Louis of Singapore (10.39) won the gold and silver respectively.
Meanwhile Ballard said MAF is looking for a few suitable coaches after China's Gu Yuan, who trained hammer throwers, Jackie Wong and Grace Wong, left after the Hangzhou Asian Games.
"We need an international head throwing coach who specialises in the hammer event. We also need a local hammer coach.
"We are also looking for potential coaches in hurdles, jumps and pole vault. We need the coaches before the Malaysia Games in Sarawak by August.
"Most of the Pelapis athletes will come from the Malaysia Games, and we need the coaches to train them either at a centralised base in Bukit Jalil or have decentralised coaching at the athletes' states."