KUALA LUMPUR — National sprint queen Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli remains hopeful that the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) will resolve the issue surrounding her 100m national record, which has yet to be recognised by World Athletics (WA).
The 31-year-old sprinter revealed that MAF technical director Robert Ballard assured her the matter would be addressed within 48 hours, starting yesterday.
She said that she only learned about this issue after being contacted by local media yesterday.
“Ballard later explained that the delay was due to problems with documentation submitted to WA, but he assured me the matter would be resolved soon,” said Zaidatul.
Zaidatul stressed the importance of resolving the issue promptly to avoid a repeat of her 2017 experience when a 100m national record attempt was invalidated due to wind assistance.
“It was traumatising, especially after working so hard to break the record,” she told Bernama today.
In October, Zaidatul broke the 31-year-old 100m national record at the Perlis Open Athletics Championship, clocking 11.49 seconds to surpass G. Shanti’s 1993 record of 11.50 seconds.
However, the record has yet to be officially recognised due to technical issues with wind readings during the event at Stadium Tuanku Syed Putra.
Ballard admitted that an administrative oversight had led to the omission of all wind readings for sprints, jumps, and hurdles at the Perlis Open. Efforts are underway to recover the wind data for submission to WA.
In 2017, Zaidatul clocked 11.36 seconds at the AGN League 7 Athletics Championship in Pretoria, South Africa, surpassing Shanti’s record. However, it was disqualified due to excessive wind assistance of 2.5 m/s.
At the Perlis Open, Nur Afrina Batrisyia Rizal secured the silver medal with 11.91 seconds, while Azreen Nabila Alias claimed the bronze with 12.00 seconds. — January 4, 2025
