BANGKOK: It was an intimidating race, but Malaysia’s newcomer Danish Iftikhar Roslee, to his credit, put up a gutsy show at the Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok today.
The 18-year-old was up against big names in the SEA Games blue riband event – the men’s century sprint.
In the end, Danish unexpectedly found himself there up on the podium, alongside the two greatest speedsters from Southeast Asia.
Thailand’s Boonson Puripol, who ran an incredible 9.94s in the heat – the first person from Southeast Asia to dip under 10 seconds – won gold with an exceptional 10s run.
Indonesian Lalu Zohri, who was a world under-20 champion, clocked 10.25s for silver.
Bronze, in this case, was something for Danish to be proud of.
Danish clocked a creditable 10.26 seconds, just 0.01 shy of the silver medal won by Lalu.
Danish had earlier clocked a personal best of 10.18s when winning the second heat, improving his old record of 10.26s.
“This is a new experience for me, and this is the first time I’ve represented the country at the SEA Games. Insya-Allah, I will try to do my best again after this,” said Danish.
“We all know Puripol is among the best runners in the world, and he ran 9.94s in the heat just now — a championship and personal record.
“Alhamdulillah I also managed to improve my time. In the final, I just surrendered to God because I had done my best in the semi-finals,” he said.
Danish also revealed that he received a morale boost from national record holder,
(10.09s) Azeem Fahmi, before the competition.
“He just wanted me to do my best and run at my own speed,” he said.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
