Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Rayzam's stunning run

Rayzam Shah won the 110m hurdles in a Games record time of 13.91s.
Rayzam Shah won the 110m hurdles in a Games record time of 13.91s.

IN the end, Robani Hassan's absence wasn't felt as Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian blazed the track to win the Sea Games men's 110m hurdles as Siti Shahida Abdullah bid farewell by adding a second gold from track and field yesterday.

Yesterday's two gold brought the athletics tally to five and edged them closer to the target of 10 but Rayzam was the star of the day for Malaysia.

"I am from Keningau (Sabah) and I dedicate this gold medal to my people from there," said Rayzam, 19.

Victory was achieved in record-breaking fashion as he set a new Games record of 13.91s, bettering the previous mark by 0.01s.

Fears that 2005 Manila Sea Games champion Robani's withdrawal through injury would hurt proved unfounded as Muhd Faiz Mohammad took the bronze, setting a season's best of 14.00s in the process.
Thailand's Suplan Wongsriphuck, who held the previous record, took silver.

As Rayzam gets prepared for what should be an exciting career, hammer thrower Siti Shahida said this was probably her final appearance in the Sea Games.

"I am getting married soon and I don't think I will be competing in the next edition," said Siti Shahida.

She won gold with a throw of 52.93m, achieved in her final attempt but she wasn't happy with the distance. "My personal best is 54.50m, which I achieved in a competition in Kazakhtstan earlier this year."

Malaysia's other representative Tan Song Hwa finished sixth with a 42.27m effort while Indonesia's Rose Hwrlinda Inggriana (50.79m) and Yurita Arianny Arsyad (49.99m) took silver and bronze respectively.

But it was not all good news at the track yesterday as potential gold medals were lost in several events.

Moh Siew Wei settled for silver in the women's 100m hurdles, clocking 13.61s. Indonesian Dedeh Erawatin (13.51s) took gold and Thailand's Wallapa's Pansoongneun (13.85s) bronze.

The men's and women's 4x100m settled for bronze with the men -- Naim Jeffery Arif, Noor Imran Hadi Mohamad, Mohd Latiff Nyat and Mohd Zabidi Ghazali -- clocking 39.90s.

Thailand, shocked by Malaysia in the 4x400m, made no mistake this time as they clocked a new Games record of 38.95s for gold while Indonesia took silver with 39.79s.

The women's quartet of Noor Hazwanie Norizan, Mohamad Siti Fatimah, Azizah Ibrahim and Norjannah Hafizah Jalaluddin clocked 46.38s for bronze with the Thais (44.00s) and Vietnam (45.62s) taking gold and silver respectively.

Malaysia won another bronze through the men's long jump as Mohd Suhaimi Musa unexpectedly delivered with a leap of 7.48m.

Josbert Tinus, who some thought would win gold, failed to even land a podium finish as Filipino Henry Dagmil took gold with 7.87m and Thailand's Keeratikom Janmanee silver with 7.75m.


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