MALAYSIA’S men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams failed to reach the Asian Games finals at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Sunday (Sept 27).
Without Mohd Azeem Fahmi and Danish Iftikhar Mohd Roslee, the men’s quartet of Pengiran Aidil Auf Hajam, Mohd Haziq Mohd Akhir, Mohd Umaira Subri and Armin Zahryl Abdul Latif clocked 39.99s to finish fifth in the first heat.
China won the heat in 38.41s, followed by Taiwan in 38.80s and Saudi Arabia in 39.43s.
Japan (38.71s), Thailand (38.89s) and Oman (38.99s) advanced from the second heat. South Korea (39.33s) and Singapore (39.34s) took the remaining final spots as the fastest teams outside the top three in each heat.
Fatin Ilyana Mat Nayan and Izzatul Musfirah Kamal Azira made sure Malaysia had a good start as they were third halfway through the race but by the time the baton was passed to Nurul Wardatul Huwaida Mohd, the other teams picked up the pace and Nur Aisyah Rofina Aling was overtaken by Singapore’s Veronica Shanti Pereira, which saw them finishing last.
China was first with a time of 43.63s, while Thailand was second with 43.65s and Vietnam were third, clocking 44.06s.
In the other heat, India (43.65s), Japan (43.66s) and the Philippines (43.88s) qualified for the final, while the other two nations qualifying with the best times after the six were Bahrain (44.42s) and South Korea (44.94s).
RESULT
MEN
4x100m relay
Heat one: 1. China 38.41s, 2. Taiwan 38.80s, 3. Saudi Arabia 39.43s. Selected: 5. Malaysia 39.99s.
WOMEN
4x100m relay
Heat one: 1. China 43.63s, 2. Thailand 43.65s, 3. Vietnam 44.06s. Selected: 5. Malaysia 45.24s.
