| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam national athletes expressed hopes to produce a good showing at the 81st Singapore Open Track and Field Championships 2019 at the Singapore Sports Hub in Singapore to be held from March 28-29.
Brunei’s top sprinters Md Fakhri bin Ismail and Muhd Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid bin Haji Idris will return to competitive action since their efforts in the Asian Games in Jakarta last year.
Md Fakhri will compete in his pet event in the 100m while Muhd Noor Firdaus will run in the 100m and 200m events.
The pair will be joined by Abdul Aqil bin Abdul Kadir, Abdul Rahim bin Abdullah and Muhammad Faaizul bin Abdullah in the 100m event. The athletics team will be accompanied by Azmize Abdul Rahman as coach.
“It is our first international competition this year. We have not competed overseas for quite some time and we will do our best in the Singapore Open,” said Md Fakhri in an interview with the Bulletin after a training session at the Track and Field of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex last night.
“We will not set our target high but at least we can get closer to our personal bests or finding a season best this year. We hope to find confidence in this competition for the next tournament,” he added.
“Any athlete will target or want to achieve a personal best or national record. Nevertheless, in view that it has been a long time that we have exposure to any competition since the Asian Games last year, I hope to achieve a season best this year in the 100m and 200m events,” said Muhd Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid.
“I also hope to better our record from our previous competition in the 4x100m,” the national 200m record holder added.
Muhd Noor Firdaus shared that there is a variety of lessons learnt from his experiences at the Asian Games such as managing the right nutrition, how to rest sufficiently, how to control self-confidence and how to face athletes who are recognised at an international level.
The relay team had fond memories of the competition having scooped the bronze medal and then a national record at the 79th edition couple of years ago.
With the relay team not seeing any competitive action overseas last year, the Singapore Open will mark their return especially at a venue where they tasted success.
“We are assembled as a team again after a long time out. Last year, Daus (Noor Firdaus) and I were the only ones who competed. The other two members (of the relay team) didn’t have a lot of game time,” said Md Fakhri.
Only Mohd Fakhri and Mohd Noor Firdaus, both of whom who had competed in the World Championships, took part in the Asian Games.
The relay team is also currently the record holders after their performances in the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.