KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — Mentally primed but physically feeling the effects of a gruelling season, national sprinter Danish Iftikhar Muhammad Roslee is nevertheless ready to make his Asian Games debut at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The 19-year-old has competed in nine consecutive meets since May, with the  Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games set to be his 10th competition of the season.

Danish Iftikhar said he was fully prepared mentally for his debut but admitted that his physical condition had been affected by the demanding competition schedule packed into a short period.

“Alhamdulillah, mentally I am 100 per cent prepared. But physically, not at 100 per cent because of back-to-back competitions within quite a short period,” he told reporters at Bukit Jalil here yesterday.

The 2025 SEA Games bronze medallist, who will compete in the 200 metres (m), men’s 4x100m and mixed 4x100m relay, said he recently underwent a week-long rehabilitation programme at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and the National Sports Institute (NSI),

Danish Iftikhar said the rehabilitation programme helped improve his physical fitness from around 60 to 70 per cent after returning from (the 2026 Muscat Grand Prix in) Oman earlier this month to between 80 and 100 per cent currently.

At the 2026 Muscat Grand Prix, the quartet of Danish Iftikhar, Pengiran Aidil Auf Hajam, Muhammad Umaira Subri and Muhammad Azeem Fahmi clocked 39.18s to win the men’s 4x100m gold medal.

He was among the national athletes who left for Sendai, Japan, yesterday for a centralised training camp under national sprint head coach Thabo Matebedi.

With his Asian Games debut fast approaching, Danish Iftikhar said his main priority now was to stay injury-free and make the most of his opportunity on the continental stage.

The athletics competition at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will be from Sept 23-29. — Bernama