By AFTAR SINGH
KUALA LUMPUR: Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian and two other fellow 110m hurdlers have been given another chance to qualify for the Laos SEA Games in the Singapore Open next week.
Rayzam, who won the gold medal in the 2007 Korat Games in a record time of 13.91, had failed to meet the qualifying mark of 13.95 at the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil last month. Mohd Robani Hassan and Mohd Faiz Mohamed also did not make the grade.
Final fling: Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian hopes to book SEA Games ticket at the Singapore Open next week. Rayzam won the first semi-finals in 14.21 but could not race in the final because of a hamstring injury.
Robani, the 2005 Manila Games gold medallist, also qualified for the final but did not run because of a calf injury. Faiz, the bronze medallist in Korat, won the final in 14.20.
The 22-year-old Rayzam said that he thought that his chances of competing in the Laos Games were all over after the failure to meet the qualifying mark in the Malaysian Open, which was the last meet for athletes to earn places in the team for the biennial Games.
“Thanks to the MAAU (Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union) for giving me and my team-mates, Robani and Faiz, another lifeline to qualify for the SEA Games. I hope that I will not blow the chance,” said Rayzam, who skipped the Asian Track and Field (ATF) championships in Guangzhou last week to concentrate on his preparations for the outing in Singapore.
Rayzam, who clocked a season’s best of 13.98, added that he only started training two weeks ago.
Robani competed in the ATF meet and he clocked a season’s best of 14.01 in the semi-finals. He finished fifth in the final in 14.06. STAR
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