KUALA LUMPUR: After all the hype about the Malaysian Open being an Olympic qualifier with blistering times expected, the performances of national athletes were nothing to shout about.
None of the national athletes came close to doing their personal best or breaking national records in the three-day championships which ended in Kuantan on Sunday.
Their results were far from Asian or even Southeast Asia level.
Malaysia's fastest man, Azeem Fahmi, and track queen Shereen Samson Vallabouy flew back from their permanent training bases in the United States to make late bids to qualify for next month's Paris Olympics.
Unfortunately, there were no sparks from them in Kuantan. Jet-lag may have slowed them down as Azeem and Shereen only flew in from the United States a few days before their races.
Azeem could clock only 10.39 seconds in the semi-finals of the men's 100m, and in the final he did 10.43 for the gold.
Shereen, who holds the national women's 400m record of 51.79s, won her race in 52.45 - no sub-52 second run from her.
The Malaysian Open field was not that strong, and the few foreign athletes that came didn't give Azeem and Shereen a run for their money.
Nonetheless, the duo collected some points (as winners) to improve their rankings in the Road to Paris Olympic qualifying.
Azeem and Shereen will have one last chance to qualify for the Olympics on merit - via the Kazakhstan Open in Almaty on June 23-24. Hopefully, this time they will be well rested and prepared.
To be eligible for the Paris Games, Azeem, who holds the national record of 10.09, needs to clock 10.20 in Almaty. As for Shereen, she has to break her national 400m record twice at the Kazakhstan Open.
The only good performances from Malaysians at the Malaysian Open were from junior athletes Khalil Helmi and Aiman Najmi. They qualified for the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Lima, Peru, from Aug 27-31 after meeting the required standards.
Khalil ran 47.60s, which equalled the qualifying mark, for the men's 400m silver. Aiman clocked 53.15, which surpassed the qualifying mark of 53.20 to win the 400m hurdles silver.