National athlete Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap rose to fame after his stunning performance in the ASEAN School Games in Brunei, in which he broke Watson Nyambek’s 17 year-old record in the 100m event. However, controversies and allegations of the record being invalid have surfaced.
Yesterday, reports have claimed that Badrul’s sprint record in the said event is deemed to be invalid due to ‘complaints of non-compliance of IAAF regulation by the organiser’. It was said that the organiser did not install the wind gauge at the correct place and did not provide any photo finish evidence.
National athletics head coach Zainal Abbas clarified that the mistake will definitely disappoint Badrul but it would not affect his performance.
“This is certainly not Badrul’s fault… as a runner he has shown excellent performance progression. If his record is deemed invalid, he can create a new record in another competition,” said Zainal as quoted from Bernama.
“For me Badrul has demonstrated an excellent performance and proven his ability in sprinting, but luck is not on his side.”
Watson Nyambek too regarded this issue as a result of the organiser’s poor handling and urged the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) to come up with a proper explanation and clarify the allegation as it may affect the integrity in the international arena. Nyambek also said that the controversy has caused embarrassment to the national athletics scene.
“They (MAAU officials) should know when athletes break the national or international record it must comply with IAAF regulations before the new record can be made official,”
“MAAU should know the real answer as some of the top officials with experience were present at the event (when Badrul set the record) and it could verify immediately whether the national record was smashed or not according to IAAF standard,” he said
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