SEPANG, April 29 — The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) is giving three young national athletes the freedom to choose to either represent their states at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) or take on the national challenge at the World Athletics Under 20 (U-20) Championships 2024.
MAF technical director Robert Ballard said this is because the two tournaments have overlapping dates. Sukma is slated to take place from August 17 to August 24 in Sarawak, while the World Athletics U-20 Championships will take place from August 27 to August 31 in Lima, Peru.
The governing body will respect the decisions made by the athletes and state associations, but he hopes they will be able to make the final decision as soon as possible before August 4.
“It is not for MAF to decide for the athlete, and we are not going to force an athlete to go somewhere. It will be the decision of the athletes and their respective state associations on whether they want to compete in Sukma or go to Peru,” said Ballard.
He was speaking to the press after welcoming the athletes back from the Asian Under-20 (U-20) Athletics Championships in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport today.
The athletics team managed to bag two bronze medals at Dubai through Ng Tak Sik (triple jump) and Pengiran Aidil Auf Hajam (200 meters), which saw them qualify on merit for the World Athletics U-20 Championships. They will be joined by Hanssen Yap Soo, who recorded 10.41 seconds for the 100-metre event.
Pengiran Aidil and Hanssen are both managed by the Sabah State Sports Council, while Ng is under the care of the Penang State Sports Council.
Commenting about the success at the Asian U-20 Athletics Championships, Ballard said he is proud of the athletes’ success considering they were in the youth development group where there was no target set for them in the tournament.
“Three athletes achieved the minimum standard for the world under 20, so that is a great achievement for us and a good step forward. We hope that you know that in the future, the next ones in Hong Kong in 2026, we may have a lot more qualifiers for the world under 20s,” he said.
— Bernama
