MELAKA: Fully recovered from a long-term injury, national sprinter Khairul Hafiz Jantan is now focused on qualifying for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China this September.
The 24-year-old nicknamed “Speedy Jantan” is determined to improve his time in the 100m and 4x100m events at the Asian Track and Field Championships (ATF) in Bangkok next July.
He said fellow sprinter Muhd Azeem Fahmi who is based in the United States, was also expected to join in the relay event.
“It is possible that he (Azeem) will be tasked as the last runner and myself as the first runner in the quartet, but will look at the coach’s plan later. What’s important for us is to improve on the time of 39.36s recorded during the recent SEA Games,” he said.
He was met by reporters at the ceremony in Ayer Keroh here to present incentives to Melaka athletes who won medals in various local and international sporting events over the past year.
The national men’s 4x100m quartet comprising Khairul Hafiz, Muhammad Zulfiqar Ismail, Jonathan Nyepa and Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi won the bronze medal at the Games.
Commenting further, Khairul Hafiz, who was crowned as Southeast Asia’s sprint king at the age of 18 when Malaysia hosted the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, said there was still time for him to improve and get back to his best.
He said after training for over a year under national sprint coach Mohd Poad Md Kassim, the opportunity to compete at the 2023 SEA Games had given him a new lease of life to return to action in the 100m event in addition to clocking 10.36s in the qualifiers.
Khairul Hafiz’s best time of 10.18s at the 2016 SUKMA Games in Sarawak saw him create a new national record at the time. — BERNAMA
