IPOH: Nurul Alyahaziqah Kamarazaman crossed the finish line first in the women’s 5,000m walk event at the Malaysia Games on Sunday but the Kelantan athlete was disqualified for floating by officials at the Perak Stadium.
Understandably, Alyahaziqah was in tears after the 17-year-old found out that she was disqualified after two warnings during the race.
Kelantan’s contingent official Ghani Seman questioned the disqualification as his athlete was only informed after crossing the finish line.
He said if Alyahaziqah had broken the rules for floating then she should have been told to leave the field during the race.
Ghani claimed that the athlete was only informed when she was celebrating her gold medal success.
Alyahaziqah’s disqualification turned out to be a blessing for Pahang’s Koong Jia Lin, who crossed the finish line in second place, as she was promoted to the top of the podium with a time of 27:35.26 seconds.
Federal Territories’ Nurul Ashikin Hussin (28:01.85s) won the silver, followed by Selangor’s Laura Tan (30:00.4s)
Jia Lin said she did not expect to win event as she was left far behind by Alyahaziqah during the race.
“I did not expect to win today. I was shocked when I was declared the winner,” said Jia Lin, who is under the guidance of national coach Teoh Boon Lim.
Jia Lin will now prepare for the 10,000m walk race scheduled on Wednesday.
