MAF working hard to include busy sprinter for SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR: Will it be game on for sprinter Mohd Azeem Fahmi (pic) at the SEA Games?

The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim has confirmed that he would exhaust all possibilities to include Azeem for the biennial Games which will be held in Cambodia in May.

The supremo’s statement contradicts with what Azeem and his coach in Malaysia Amir Izwan Tan Abdullah have stated previously.

The 18-year-old Azeem said he would likely skip the Games because of his studies and athletics commitments in the United States while Amir confirmed that his blue-eyed boy would continue competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

But Shahidan said arrangements would be made for Azeem to fly for the Games and then immediately report to Auburn University for the NCAA season.

Shahidan’s desperation is understandable as the MAF have set a 10-gold medal target at the SEA Games and Azeem could deliver two if all goes well in the 100m and 200m sprint events. At the last Games in Vietnam, athletics only contributed a meagre five golds.

“Azeem is one of the top sprinter in the Asean region and fourth fastest in Asia right now,” said Shahidan.

“He should represent the nation for the SEA Games.

“But at the same time, he has to compete in the NCAA. We are working on getting him to come straight from there.

“If he doesn’t compete, it would be a waste as he has the potential to smash records in Cambodia.

“If not, he has to wait for an Asian or Commonwealth Games. We are working hard to get him.

“He is our boy, and we want him to compete. We are currently corresponding with his university.”

Azeem has been setting the track ablaze since joining Auburn University last month. On Saturday, he rewrote his indoor 60m national record by clocking 6.62 to finish fifth in the final of the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Just two weeks earlier, he clocked 6.63 in the first round of the same event in the Texas Tech Open and Multis at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas.

Azeem also holds the 100m national record, having run a superb 10.09 in the Under-20 World Championships in Cali, Colombia, last year.

While training in the US, Azeem’s focus is on the Asian Championships in Thailand (July 12-16), the World Championships in Budapest (Aug 19-27) and the Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 23-Oct 8).

He is also targeting to qualify for the Paris Olympics next year.