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Saturday November 28, 2009

Rayzam will only know on Monday if he is going to Laos

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Korat SEA Games gold medallist Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian will only know on Monday if he will compete in the Laos SEA Games.

The 110m hurdler, who has a season’s best of 13.98, has yet to beat the SEA Games qualifying mark of 13.95.

The Sabahan was supposed to compete with two others – Mohd Robani Hassan and Mohd Faiz Mohamed – in the Singapore Open tomorrow to decide on the two hurdlers for the biennial Games.

But Rayzam, who broke the SEA Games record of 13.91 in Korat, has not recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered at the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil last month.

Golden moment: Malaysia’s Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian in ecstasy after winning the gold at the Korat SEA Games in 2006.

“We will decide on Monday whether Rayzam will be in or out of the SEA Games squad,” said SEA Games athletics team manager A. Subramaniam.

“This will be based on the time Robani and Faiz clock in the Singapore Open. If they clock good times or surpass the qualifying mark, then they will run in the SEA Games.

Robani, the 2005 Manila SEA Games gold medallist, stands a better chance as he had clocked a season-best 14.01 at the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in Guangzhou, China, two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Mohd Zaiful Zainal Abidin will also be competing in the 400m event in the Singapore Open to justify his place in next month’s SEA Games squad.

Zaiful was to have taken part in the ATF meet in China but was stopped at the KL International Airport (KLIA) for not servicing his National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan.

Subramaniam said Zaiful needed to clock a good time in Singapore to win a place in the 4x400m squad.

They are five runners in the relay team, including Zaiful, but only four will be selected for the Games. The others are Mohd Zafril Mohd Zuslaini, P. Yuvaaraj, Mohd Idris Zakaria and K. Amran Raj.

The others who will be competing in the one-day Singapore Open are S. Mathialagan (men’s 800m) and women athletes Noraseela Khalid (400m), Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaluddin, Nurul Sarah Abdul Kadir (100m), Roslinda Samsu and Kathleen Ong (pole vault).

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