KUALA LUMPUR: The future of Malaysian athletics looks bright after a total of 18 records were shattered in the 64th National Schools Sports Athletics Championships (MSSM) which ended yesterday (Oct 23) at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh.
This is one of the highest numbers of records broken in the boys' and girls' Under-12, Under-15 and Under-18 categories.
Sprinter Sayyid Amin Roslan of Penang and Kelantan's Alia Batrisya Nasaruddin were named the best male athlete and female athlete respectively at the MSSM.
Sayyid broke the boys' Under-18 200m meet record by posting 20.94s en route to gold. He bettered his own record of 21.42 set in the semi-finals just hours before the final on Wednesday.
Sayyid's time was better than the Asean School Games record of 21.39 set by Malaysia's Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap in 2015.
Sayyid, 17, of Mutiara Impian Sports School, also won the 400m gold by clocking 48.43.
Sayyid said that he is thrilled to dip below 21 seconds for the first time in his life.
"It shows that my hard work in training is paying off. I am also happy to win two golds and break one MSSM record to become the best male athlete."
Alia, who is a student of Pahang Sports School, broke the 11-year-old record in the girls' Under-18 triple jump with a leap of 12.62m.
The previous mark of 12.51m was set by Noor Shahidatun Nadia Zuki of Kedah in 2013.
Alia also won the long jump silver with an effort of 5.55m.
Sabah emerged as overall champions with a medal haul of 23-22-16 followed by Selangor, 16-13-13, and Johor, 14-10-6.