PUTRAJAYA, July 21 — The 10.44 seconds clocked by Khairul Hafiz Jantan in the qualifying round of the 100m men’s event at the World Youth Championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland, is encouraging, says National Sports Institute chief executive officer Dr Mohd Khairi Zawi.

He said Khairul Hafiz’s drop in performance in the semi-final (10.58s) must be studied to determine the cause.

"A time of 10.44s is good especially at international level, and it almost matched the national record.

"I am more keen to know why Khairul Hafiz did not maintain the momentum by clocking 10.44s or better,” he told Bernama when met at the Youth and Sport Ministry open house here today.

Khairul Hafiz failed to make the 100m final after finishing in eighth place.

Meanwhile, Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap only ran in the qualifying round and managed to secure fifth place in the fourth heat in a time of 10.66s.

Khairi also commented that among the factors for the failure of the national athletes who exhibited dismal performances was due to goal setting.

"What I can comment is that Poland is not their priority in the beginning, simultaneously resulting in their late goal setting.

"A last-minute decision could have impacted their performances,” he said.

Prior to this, both the athletes had declined to run in Poland and chose to run in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Sarawak. — Bernama