Kota Kinabalu: Top hurdler Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian is setting his sights on defending his SEA Games 110m title at the end of the year in Laos.
"I will be participating in the Perlis AAA open to be held on Feb 11 and 12, my first competition since the Hanoi Open held last July," he told Express Sports after a training session at the Likas Sports Complex here Tuesday.
Without any injury worry, Rayzam is confident of clocking a fast time and reckoned his main rival will be Robani Hassan of Selangor who is currently ranked Number One in the country.
"It has always been close between us and the season opener in Perlis will see how far I have improved after months of training, " he said.
The lanky 21-year-old has been training three hours daily at the Likas stadium tracks under the watchful eyes of his personal coach Raymie A Bakar.
"I do not have problems with my speed and endurance but I know I need to perfect my technique in order to achieve my target of bettering my personal best time of 13.91sec," he said.
Coach Raymie A Bakar echoed his sentiments and believed Rayzam could run even faster if he can improve on his hurdle technique.
"This is the area that we are emphasising and the training program he is following now is specifically to improve his acceleration time over the hurdle."
"For example he has been given various progressive drills in order to improve his velocity at taking off, " he added.
He said Rayzam had been committed fully to the training program and is confident a good result in Perils would set the rhythm for his prot}g} to be on the right track to defend his SEA games title.
The coach was also confident that Rayzam would also re-write the long standing National record of 13.73sec set by Nur Herman Majid at the Hiroshima Games in 1994.
A former State sprinter himself, the coach told Express Sports that he first discovered Rayzam when he was a form one student at SMK .Gunsanad, Keningau in 2001.
It proved to be a good partnership as the boy burst onto the scene in 2004 representing Malaysia at the Asean School competition held in Kuching, Sarawak.
Since then there was no looking back for Rayzam as he grabbed the chances and proved his mettle at various international meets by achieving some good results and was awarded a two weeks training and competition stint in Bulgaria in 2007.
The highlight of the year was at the Thailand SEA Games where he shocked the field and shattered the Games record by winning the gold medal in 13.91sec. That year also saw him crowned Sabah Sportsman of the Year for 2007.
Daily Express
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