| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam national sprinter Muhammad Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid bin Haji Mohd Idris bagged a silver medal in the 200m event at the 81st Singapore Open Track and Field Championships 2019 after clocking a time of 21.65s at the Singapore Sports Hub in Singapore yesterday.
The race ended in a photo finish as winner Ngee Ann Polytechnic Reuben Rainer Lee Siong En clocked at 21.64s with Fujitsu’s Kei Takase taking home bronze with a time of 21.66s.
“He (Muhammad Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid) did well in the heat round and broke his season best with a time of 21.53s (before it was 21.74s last February). In the final, he only clocked 21.65s but he won the silver medal as a bonus,” coach Azmize Abdul Rahman told the Bulletin. “I’m quite happy with the performance today (Thursday) and I hope it will continue again tomorrow (Friday) for the next event,” he continued.
“This will also encourage his teammates to do their very best tomorrow (Friday) with their individual events and relay events in the 100m and 4x100m.”
Meanwhile, President of Brunei Darussalam Athletics Federation (BDAF) Major (Rtd) Mohd Talip bin Haji Mohd Tahir said, “On behalf of BDAF, I would like to congratulate Firdaus’ achievement in winning silver, and his efforts and commitment during training. Personally, I thank the efforts by Coach Del Prado and Coach Azmize.”
The local sprinter qualified to the final with a season best of 21.53s in heat three of the preliminaries behind the Japanese pair of Kirara Shiraishi from Daito Bunka University and Kei Takase.
Brunei’s Abdul Aqil bin Abdul Kadir also competed in the 200m where he posted a time of 23.58s in the heat round.
President of Singapore Athletics (SA) Tang Weng Fei presented the medals during the presentation ceremony.
The competition continues today with Brunei runners Muhammad Faaizul bin Abdullah, Md Fakhri bin Ismail and Abdul Rahim bin Abdullah joining newly-crowned 200m silver medallist Muhammad Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid and Abdul Aqil in the 100m event.
Brunei will also take part in the 4x100m relay event where they hope to smash their own national record of 40.21s which they set at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur two years ago.