KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Malaysia will be banking on newly crowned national sprint king Khairul Hafiz Jantan to end a 14-year wait to strike gold in the 100m dash when the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games gets underway from Aug 19-30.

The expectation is not only to win the gold medal in the blue ribbon event but also to break the SEA Games record of 10.17 seconds set by Suryo Agung Wibowo of Indonesia at the Laos SEA Games in 2009.

Winning the gold medal does not appear to be an impossible mission for the 18-year-old sprinter who had broken the 18-year record of ‘Flying Dayak’ Watson Nyambek (10.30s) at the Sarawak Malaysia Games (Sukma) in July last year with a run of 10.18s, just 0.01s behind the SEA Games record.

Malaysia last won the gold medal through Terengganu’s Nazmizan Muhammad who clocked 10.48s at the 2003 SEA Games in Vietnam and if current statistics are anything to go by, the opportunity of winning the gold and silver medal in the 100m and gold medal in the men’s 4x100m looks good, after some heart-warming performances by our sprinters.

"I want to create an impact in my SEA Games debut by breaking the games record. Prior to that, I must dip around 10.20s consistently and peak in August to break the record,” he told Bernama.

Khairul Hafiz’s best time this season is 10.31s which he had set during the Thailand Open and the time is however, behind his closest rival and SEA Games defending champion Eric Cray of the Philippines who set 10.27s in the United States, just 0.02s slower compared to the time he had recorded to win the gold medal in Singapore two years ago.

Other challengers with the potential to take the fight to Khairul Hafiz dubbed ‘The Flying Youth’ is the 2013 Myanmar SEA Games gold medal winner, Jirapong Meenapra of Thailand and Yaspi Boby of Indonesia.

In addition, another national sprinter, Jonathan Nyepa is also seen as a potential competitor to Khairul Hafiz at the SEA Games since Jonathan Nyepa’s had clocked 10.28s at the Korean Open last month.

Besides Khairul Hafiz and Jonathan Nyepa, the performances of Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap and Nixson Kennedy are also very encouraging to enable Malaysia to emerge victorious in the  men’s100m, 200m and 4x400m after such a long time, 14 years to be exact.

"To me it is a challenge, not a pressure, especially when I will be facing Cray. I will remain focused, listen to my coach and continue to work on current weaknesses,” said Khairul Hafiz.

 His coach, Mohd Poad Md Kassim appeared confident at his protege’s capability to break the SEA Games’ record.

"We are indeed ready and 100 per cent focused on the SEA Games and preparations are at the final stages now. We are set to break 10.16s and I am confident Khairul (Hafiz) can do it,” he said.

The Asian Track and Field (ATF) which starts in India on Thursday is expected to serve as a platform where most South East Asian athletes will lock horns before the Malaysia Open scheduled from July 17-18.

But, for national athletics chief coach Zainal Abas, the lack of experience on the SEA Games stage is among the challenges which Khairul Hafiz must overcome to achieve the objective of his mission. — Bernama