Azeem’s 20.89s is new Sarawak all-comers record

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File action photo of Azeem who who will join Muhd Shah Sholihin and Sarawak’s Elvin Yap and Jonah Chang Rigan to compete in the World Under-20 Athletics Championships to be held in Cali, Colombia on Aug 1-6. — Bernama photo

KUCHING (July 12): Perak’s 18-year-old sprint sensation Muhd Azeem Fahmi was the outstanding performer at the recent Sarawak Junior Athletics Championships. Numerous reports hailed his 200m run at the State Stadium in Petra Jaya on July 3.

However, none mentioned that his time of 20.89s not only marked the first time anyone has run the distance under 21 secs on Sarawak soil but also that it broke the Sarawak All-comers record.

The media buzz was on the teenager meeting the qualifying time to run the 200m at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships to be held in Cali, Colombia in early August.

A month earlier he had qualified to run the 100m with another personal best of 10.28s. Azeem will be joined at the World U20 Meet by triple jumper Muhd Shah Sholihin and the Sarawak duo of Elvin Yap (110m hurdles) and Jonah Chang Rigan (shot put).

Azeem’s 200m time on that Sunday afternoon in Kuching is the second fastest in Malaysian history.

It is only behind Russel Alexander Taib’s national record of 20.77s.

The Perak schoolboy also became only the 7th Malaysian to go under 21sec for the distance. The first was Mani Jegathesan who clocked 20.92s in 1968 to qualify for the semi-finals of the Mexico Olympic Games and remained unbroken as the national record for 49 years! Jonathan Nyepa is the only Sarawakian in this exclusive club with his state record of 20.92s recorded in the United States in 2019.

Azeem’s 20.89s is also a new Sarawak all-comers record.

The previous record was held by Melaka’s Khairul Hafiz Jantan who clocked 21.03s at the 2016 Sarawak Sukma. A state or national record is self-explanatory.

An all-comers record, however, is hardly mentioned nowadays and perhaps less understood.

It refers to the best ever performance in an event by a person competing in that state or country.

A Sarawak all-comers record can be set by a person – possibly from another state or country – as long as it is achieved on Sarawak soil.

An all-comers record was a familiar term among local sports fans in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. But it has now lost currency in the local media for an important reason.

It is rare for top national athletes to compete in track and field meets in Sarawak compared to earlier times.

This is a sad commentary on the sport in Sarawak, even more so in this era of sports tourism and ease in air travel.

State associations in such sports as bowling, boxing and tennis are quite successful in organising local tournaments attracting participation from national and even international stars.

It is also notable that Sarawak’s current best athletes are also setting new state and national records almost always when they happen to compete in Peninsular Malaysia or other countries.

In fact, the likes of Jonathan Nyepa, Jackie Wong, Grace Wong, Queenie Ting, Elvin Yap, and Jonah Chang Rigan seldom compete in Sarawak’s own state championships!

Local fans may read about their exploits in newspapers. But they hardly ever have the opportunity to see our home-grown stars in action against other top national or regional athletes on Sarawak soil.

Athletics is a core sport and guaranteed spectacle at the Olympic and multi-sports games with the 100m sprint universally tagged as the blue riband event.

The Sarawak Amateur Athletics Association (SAAA) has to do more to sell a sport which is a long proven marketable product. It can only help to further develop the sport in the state and better serve Sarawak athletes and fans.