Good news for Rayzam

KUALA LUMPUR: Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian clocked 14.00 to win the men’s 110m hurdles gold medal in the Vietnam Open in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.

But the Sabahan failed to surpass the Myanmar SEA Games mark of 13.86, which is the silver medal time of the 2011 Games.

The good news is that the 25-year-old, who won the bronze medal in the third-leg of the Asian Grand Prix in Colombo in May with a season best time of 13.96, has been selected to represent Malaysia as a wild card in the World Athletics Championships in Moscow from Dec 10-18.

The 25-year-old Rayzam, who has a personal best of 13.81, blamed his poor time in Vietnam to the lack of “good competition”.

“However, I’m happy to compete in the world meet for the second time despite failing to qualify for the SEA Games,” said Rayzam, who made his debut in the world meet in Berlin in 2009.

Rayzam, who had one-month stint in Germany in May, believes that the stiff competition in Moscow will help him beat the SEA Games qualifying mark.

“I will celebrate Hari Raya in Moscow as I’ll leave for the world meet on Aug 6 (with personal coach Raymie A. Bakar),” said Rayzam, who won the gold medal at the 2007 Korat SEA Games.