Muhammad Azeem apologises over costly false start

HANOI: National young sprinter, Muhammad Azeem Fahmi has apologised for his mistake in making a false start in the semi-finals of the men's 100m event at the 31st SEA Games here, yesterday.

The 18-year-old, through social media, also admitted that he was too upset to be able to control his emotions after his disqualification at the My Dinh National Stadium.

"First of all, I would like to apologise for my weakness in not being able to control my emotions upon disqualification. I was too frustrated with myself because of the false start.

"I apologise to anyone who was affected by my emotional outburst while at the stadium. Insyallah (God willing), the blessings of your prayers will lead me towards more success in the future. Thank you Malaysia," he said on his Instagram site.

Yesterday, Muhammad Azeem, dubbed 'Usain Bolt of Malaysia', was overcome by emotions after being disqualified to due to the false start in the second semi-final heat.

However, national athletics head coach Manshahar Abdul Jalil noted that the explanation of the referee and technical officer (TD), after checking the technical equipment report proved that Muhammad Azeem had indeed made a mistake without realising it.

He said Muhammad Azeem's reaction time was 0.058 seconds earlier before the starting pistol was fired and his feet were off the starting blocks during the pistol firing.

With another national sprinter Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat suffering a groin injury during the first semi-final heat and finishing the final in sixth place with a time of 10.69s, Malaysia failed to defend the 'Sprint King of Southeast Asia' title yesterday.

Sixteeen-year-old 'Thai Wonderkid' Puripol Boonson emerged as the fastest man in Southeast Asia with a time of 10.44 second (s), while his teammate Soraoat Dapbang (10.56s) grabbed silver and Marc Brian Louis of Singapore (10.56s) took home bronze based on photo finish.

Malaysia topped the blue-riband event in the previous two editions through Khairul Hafiz Jantan in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur and Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi in Manila in 2019.

-- BERNAMA