ROBANI Hassan proved he is still the man to beat in the men's 110m hurdles despite failing in his Olympic qualification bid at the Malaysian Pre-Olympic Championships in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The Kuala Lumpur hurdler stormed to a personal best of 13.85 seconds, a new meet record, but fell short of the Olympic qualification mark of 13.72s on the final day of the two-day meet at the National Stadium.

His closest challenger, Sabah's Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian, stumbled halfway through and was disqualified.

"I did not realise what happened to Rayzam but I had the Indian runner chasing me. Some people have said I'm an old horse but this win proves that this old horse can still run," said Robani, 25, who eclipsed his previous best of 13.88s set at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Rayzam blew what he felt was his best chance to qualify for Beijing when he led halfway through the race.
"I clipped one of the hurdles (the sixth hurdle) and it disrupted my rhythm," said Rayzam, 20, who was reduced to a walking pace as he crossed the finish line last and was disqualified for pushing a hurdle with his hand.

India's Krishna Mohan finished second in 14.02s while Mohd Faiz Muhammad of Negri Sembilan was third in 14.33s.

The men's 110m hurdles was the only spark in a meet devoid of excitement and quality.

Tan Song Hwa established herself as the country's top hammer thrower by winning with a 52.63m effort to push Pahang teammate and two-time Sea Games champion Siti Shahidah Abdullah (48.63) into second place.

M. Vadivellan of Perak won the men's 1,500m in 3:53.95s which was over 14 seconds short of the Olympic qualification mark while Kuala Lumpur's A. Amutha completed a meet double by winning the women's 3,000m steeplechase in 12:30.65s after taking the 5,000m title on Friday.

Terengganu's Zabidi Ghazali failed in his bid for a sprint double after finishing second in the men's 200m in 21.92s with Botswana's Fanual Kemsoi won in 21.20.

KL's Teoh Boon Lim won the men's 20km walk, was held in Putrajaya in a time of 1:38:36s ahead of national and KL teammate Loh Choon Sieng (1:42:43) while Kelantan's Norliana Rosni took the women's 10km title in 1:04:11s.

Sarawak's Norohida Badawai redeemed herself for her Malaysia Games defeat to win the women's 400m in 59.67s while Botswana's Obakeng Ngwigwa beat compatriot Fanuel Kenosi in the men's 400m in 47.51s.

India's Amarjeet Singh won the men's triple jump with a distance of 16.64m with Kedah's Mohd Aman Fitri (15.28m) second.