KUALA LUMPUR,  July 28 – Three national sprinters are being evaluated to fill the last slot in the men’s 4x100m relay team for  the 29th Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017) next month.

National athletics chief coach Zainal Abas said one of the three candidates, Muhammad Haikal Hanafi, Nixson Kennedy and Muhammad Aqil Yasmin, would be selected to complete the quartet comprising Khairul Hafiz Jantan, Badrul Hisham Abdul Manap and Jonathan Nyepa.

He said among the three runners, Nixson has the better time of 10.43 seconds but Zainal emphasised that in the 4x100m relay, changing the baton was even more important.

“Jonathan, Badrul Hisham and Khairul Hafiz are the key runners in the event and we have to find another to strengthen the squad. In the meet in India, it was Nixson as the first runner while in Vietnam, Muhammad Haikal was fielded in the final.

“We will see who will be in better form to fill the final slot at SEA Games,” he added.

“For the time being, Mohd Poad (Md Kassim) and other coaches are still looking for the best combination. It is important to find the compatibility of runners especially when changing baton,” he told reporters after attending the open forum “Community Sports Hubs for All” at National Stadium, Bukit Jalil, here today.

Meanwhile, Zainal said the new national men’s 4x100m record set yesterday at 39.62s, was still not good enough to compete against Thailand and Indonesia.

However, he said the record was a good indication that the national quartet could give the challengers stiff competition and clinch a medal for the country in the event.

Based on the 2017 performance, the Thais have the best average time of 39.8s while the Indonesians are in the 39.9s range.

“If we look at our athletes’ performance, there is still a chance for us as our average time is 39.00s. We are good for a medal.

“If we look at our outing two years ago, we have to clock an average of 38.00s. Indonesia and Thailand which won medals in Singapore, are still ahead of us. Our challenge is to peak in 22 days,” he said.

Thailand hold the men’s 4x100m SEA Games record at 38.95s which was achieved  at the 2007 Korat SEA Games and clocked 38.99s two years later in Singapore. — Bernama