Muhammad Azeem blazes into the 100m sprint finals at National Stadium

KUALA LUMPUR - National sprint champion Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi was the main highlight at the National Stadium when he won the second semi-final of the men’s 100 metre (m) event of the 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Bukit Jalil here today.

The 18-year-old national 100 m record holder was first across the finish line at 10.33 seconds (s), much to the delight of hundreds of fans.

He qualifies for the finals tomorrow as the fastest runner of all three semi-finals, beating the times set by fellow national sprinters Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi (10.57s) and Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat (10.54 s). All three sprinters will compete in tomorrow’s finals.

"Alhamdulillah, today I ran rather well, one of the fastest times in my career, so I’m looking forward to do something in final tomorrow,” Muhammad Azeem told reporters here.

"Insya-Allah, (gold) if I’m lucky, but whatever it is, I am not underestimating other athletes, we can see in the first semi-finals there was Haiqal, and in the third semis we have Arsyad. I’m confident they’ll put up a good fight and I just want to do my best,” he added.

Meanwhile, national athlete Nor Sarah Adi, who is representing Terengganu, won the first semi-finals of the women’s 100 m event with a time of 11.94s, with Selangor’s Nur Afrina Batrisyia Mohamad Rizal clocking 12.11s to win the second semi-finals.

"Everyone’s charged up, they’re strong, and our times are all close....I also struggled a bit and was nervous. It’s all good learning and I’ll improve on today’s weakness in tomorrow’s finals,” Nor Sarah, the 2021 South East Asian (SEA) Games pole vault gold medallist, said.

Nine athletes will compete in the men’s 100 m finals, while eight finalists will feature for the women’s finals tomorrow. - BERNAMA