KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) may not ratify Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli’s time of 11.45 seconds as the national women’s 100 metres record set in South Africa in March.
This follows South African media reports of faulty timing equipment used in the race where Husniah wiped G. Shanti’s time of 11.50s off the record books.
MAF are still awaiting a reply to their queries from their counterparts Athletics South Africa.
Husniah was credited with the time of 11.45s at the Athletics South Africa Super Series meet in Bloemfontein on Mar 8 but the men’s 100m final at the same meet was later hand-timed after the electronic timing equipment failed.
South African media claimed that 60 per cent of track athletes at the competition clocked personal bests, an unusually high percentage, throwing into doubt the accuracy of the time posted by Husniah.
In the absence of official documents proving the race was conducted according to proper procedures, MAF president Datuk Karim Ibrahim said Husniah’s time cannot be recognised as a national record.
“To ratify the time as an official record, we need the documentation we have asked from South Africa which we have not received until today,” he said here on Sunday.
“However, Husniah can still use the time as a personal best for herself. But to accept it as a record, we need to have all documents in order.”
Karim did not say if, or when, he expects Athletics South Africa to revert with the documents, which means Shanti’s time set in 1993 will remain as the official national record.
This is not the first time a national sprinter has been denied a record due to a technical fault.
In 2015, Badrul Hisyam Manap thought he had erased Watson Nyambek’s men’s 100m national record of 10.30s when he clocked 10.29s at the Asean Schools Games in Brunei only for improperly positioned wind-gauge equipment to nullify his bid for the record.
Khairul Hafiz Jantan lowered the national mark to 10.18s at the Malaysia Games last year.