MAF To Send Sprint Athletes To South Africa For Training

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 (Bernama) -- A total of 12 sprint athletes will undergo training in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of this month to prepare for the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) president Karim Ibrahim said the sprinters included Olympian Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, the country's sprint king Khairul Hafiz Jantan, and Badrul Hisham Abdul Manap. Also listed were Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian, Muhammad Azam Masri, G.Aravinn Thevar, Shereen Samson Vallabuoy, Nurul Raizah Asma, Komalam Sahlly, Siti Fatimah Mohamad, Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi and Jonathan Nyepa. In the meantime, he said the MAF would also send two high jump athletes - Lee Hup Wei and Nauraj Singh Randhawa - on a two-month training stint to Sydney, Australia. "The (sprint) athletes have to undergo an examination at the National Sports Institute before being allowed to train in South Africa, while Nauraj and Hup Wei will depart for Sydney as soon as possible to train with their coach, Alex Stewart. "We are still mulling to send three more athletes, namely Irfan Shamsuddin (discus), Iskandar Alwi and Chuah Yu Tian (pole vault)," he told reporters after attending a press conference on the Kuala Lumpur City Day Run 2017, at Wisma OCM, here, Thursday. Karim said the athletes are not going abroad just for training, but they would also be competing in a series of tournaments throughout the duration. "Most important is we want them to use this opportunity of training abroad as best as possible," he said. In the meantime, he said all the athletes will participate in a tournament in Europe when entering the third phase of the selection ahead of the SEA Games, before competing in the Malaysian Open to be held this May. It will be the final competition before the names of athletes selected for the SEA Games is submitted to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). -- BERNAMA