ZAIFUL Zainal Abidin is seen as the track and field athlete most capable of joining Roslinda Samsu and Yuan Yufang in the Beijing Olympics.

The 400m runner has been given the go ahead by the National Sports Council (NSC) to embark on a six-week training-cum-competition stint in Europe in a bid to reach his first Olympics.

Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union deputy president Karim Ibrahim said Zaiful has been earmarked as the athlete most capable of qualifying for Beijing among those yet to do so.

"The NSC has in principal agreed to send him to Europe from May 14 and he will be competing in several meets there. Based on his coach Vladimir Simeonov's recommendation, it has been agreed that Zaiful has the ability to qualify for Beijing," said Karim after a meeting with all national athletics coaches in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Zaiful, 26, impressed at the Korat Sea Games when he helped the 4x400m quartet end a 10-year gold medal drought while also bagging a bronze in the 400m in 46.75 seconds.
That time was his best since his return to competitive action early last year after a three-year hiatus from the track although it is still some way short of the Olympic 'B' category qualifying mark of 45.95s.

The Kuala Lumpur-born Zaiful will compete in at least two international permit meetings in Bulgaria and Germany before returning to Asia to run in the three-leg Asian Grand Prix in late June.

The European stint will afford Zaiful a chance to fulfil the promise he showed during his teenage years when he shattered Nordin Jadi's national record of 46.56s by clocking 46.41s at the 2001 Asian Junior Championships in Brunei as a raw 19-year-old.