Haiqal shatters record for MSSM sprint double

KUALA TERENGGANU 7 MAY 2016: MUHAMMAD HAIQAL HANAFI of Negeri Sembilan broke the boy's under-18 200m record by clocking 21.59 s in the final at the National Championships at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin stadium here. zabidi tusin/the star/kuala terengganu.

KUALA TERENGGANU: Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi completed a golden double in grand style.

The Negri Sembilan sprinter, who won the boy’ Under-18 100m gold on Tuesday, clocked 21.59 to shatter the 18-year-old 200m record in the National Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Athletics Championships at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium on Saturday.

The previous mark of 21.62 set by Nazmizan Mohamed of Terengganu in Ipoh in 1998.

For his efforts, Haiqal was named as the best male athlete. Sarawak’s Grace Wong Xiu Mei created history as she won the best female athlete award for the third consecutive time. The 16-year-old won the award for bagging two golds, including breaking the hammer record in Open category, and a bronze.

Haiqal, who also bagged both the sprint golds at last month’s South-East Asian (SEA) Youth Championships in Bangkok, was pleased to win his second double.

“These two wins have boosted my confidence to challenge Badrul (Hisyam Abdul Manap) in both the 100m and 200m in the Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Kuching in July,” said Haiqal, a Form Five student at the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) in Johor Baru.

Terengganu’s Azreen Nabila Alias, who broke the 100m record in the girls’ Under-18 event with a time of 12.02 on Tuesday, also clinched a double. She clocked 25.51 to win the 200m gold.

Four other records were broken on the fifth and final day with Selangor contributing three through A. Manissha (girls’ Open 2,000m steeplechase), Nurhashima Mohd Shahril (girls’ Under-18 shot putt) and their boys’ 4x400m team of S. Vishnu, Muhammad Ilham Suhaimi, Willy Gew Teng Yon and Muhammad Aidil Ahmad Shah.

Manissha clocked 7:28.52 to break the previous record by more than 14 seconds. The old mark of 7:43.16 was set by Teoh Kim Chyi of Kedah in Malacca last year.

Manissha was surprised with her efforts.

“I knew I could break the record but never expected to improve the time by 14 seconds,” said Manissha, who was also a silver medallist here in the 1,500m and 3,000m.

Sarawak’s Johnny Ling Siew Hong was the other record breaker, shattering the mark in the boys’ Open hammer with a throw of 59.68m.

All in, 17 records were broken in the five-day meet. Selangor emerged overall champions after upstaging six-time winners Sarawak.

Selangor topped the medal table with a haul of 14-9-8, relegating Sarawak’s 13-15-13 total to second place. Johor were third with a 11-5-17 haul.