BUKIT JALIL: The battle for the title of fastest man at the very first Malaysia Open Grand Prix to take place at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tomorrow (Saturday) is expected to be a hotly contested affair.
Much of the focus will be on Taiwan’s speed demon, Yang Chun-Han.
The 22-year-old sprinter has a personal best record of 10.11s and is Taiwan’s national 100m record holder.
He clocked the time at the Japan University Sports meet in Hiratsuka in June last year.
Chun-Han, who also won gold at the World University Games (Universiade) in Taiwan last year, will not have it easy at Bukit Jalil as world youth champion Lalu Muhammad Zohri of Indonesia, who clocked 10.18s, will also be competing.
For the record, Lalu clocked his personal best time at the IAAF Under-20 Athletics Championships in Finland last year.
Malaysia’s Khairul Hafiz Jantan, the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games gold medallist, who holds the national record of 10.18s, has pulled out of this weekend’s competition.
His coach, Mohd Poad Md Kassim confirmed that Khairul Hafiz has a calf injury.
Malaysia’s best hopes lie solely on the shoulders of Sukma champion Muhammad Aqil Yasmin who has a personal best 10.39s.
The other national sprinters who will be taking part are Nixson Kennedy, Badrul Hisham Abdul Manap and Muhd Zulfiqar Ismail.
In the 200m, Malaysians will be looking forward to seeing new national record holder, Russel Alex Nair.
Russel, who grew up in Australia, will be making his first appearance here since rewriting Khairul Hafiz’s national 200m record of 20.90s with a mark of 20.77s.
The Maldives will be represented in the century sprint by Hassan Said who has a personal best of 10.33s
Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president, Datuk Karim Ibrahim said the Malaysia Open Grand Prix, which is being held for the first time, will showcase a high level of competition with top athletes from 14 countries.
“This Grand Prix is very important for our national athletes as it will be a platform for them to be selected or shortlisted for the Asia Championships in Doha next month.”
Malaysia Open Grand Prix schedule:
Today (Finals) 3pm: Men’s pole vault, women’s triple jump, women’s discus throw, men’s 3,000m steeplechase.
4pm: Men’s discus throw.
5.30pm: Women’s 800m, men’s 800m.
8.03pm: Women’s 100m, men’s triple jump, men’s long jump, men’s shot put.
9.10pm: Men’s 400m hurdles.
