Khairul Misses Out On Second Gold
KUALA LUMPUR – Southeast Asian sprint king Khairul Hafiz Jantan was unable to do a repeat performance in the men’s 200m final in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last night.
In the final at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, he was pipped by compatriot G. Aravin Thevar to third place. Aravin clocked 21.26s while Khairul’s time was 21.28s
T Antony Beram of the Phlippines won the gold in 20.84s while Thailand’s Jirapong Meenapra secured the silver after clocking 21.22s.
Yesterday, Khairul, dubbed “Speedy Jantan” had won the 100m gold, crossing the finishing line in 10.38s. Defending champion Eric Cray of the Philippines and Thailand’s Kritsada Namsuwun were behind him in 10.43s but the silver was awarded to the Filipino based on the photo-fiinish.
Just a month ago, Khairul, a student of the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School, had broken the 200m national record belonging to Tan Sri Dr. M. Jegathesan (20.92s) that was set 49 years ago, Khairul ran the curve sprint in a blistering 20.90s at the Malaysian Open Athletics Championship at the same venue.
The last time a Malaysian won both the sprint events was at the 2003 Vietnam Games. Nazmizan Muhammad clocked 10.48s in the 100m and 21.05s in the 200m to earn himself two gold medals.
In the women’s 200m sprint, Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli repeated her 100m performance yesterday to secure the sllver medal. She did 23.64s, coming behind yesterday’s 100m gold medal winner Lu Tu Chinh of Vietnam who clocked 23.32s.
Defending champion Shanti Pereira of Singapore had to be satisfied with bronze after recording 23.64s. It was the same finish as in the 100m yesterday.
Earlier today, Jackie Wong Siew Cheer and Elena Goh Ling Yin had contributed gold medals in the men;s hammer throw and women’s 10,000 walk respectively.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s upcoming middle distance runner Royson Vincent made a memorable SEA Games debut by winning the 800m bronze medal and setting a new personal best time.
Royson, 21, clocked 1:50.76s to overcome his previous personal best time of 1:51.24s which he had set during the Malaysian Open Athletics Championships last month.
-- BERNAMA
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