Phone call on wedding day brings Azarudeen from India’s fast lane to Malaysia’s middle distance

Ready for new challenge: Malaysia’s new middle and long-distance running coach Mohamed Azarudeen with Umar Osman (right) and Wan Mohd Fazri Wan Zahari (left).

PETALING JAYA: It took a phone call on his wedding day to finally bring him to Malaysia.

Mohamed Azarudeen, Malaysia’s new middle and long-distance running coach, was just two hours from tying the knot when a leading World Athletics lecturer rang to ask why he had not applied for the Malaysian Athletics (MA) job.