| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: The flame of the 25th SEA Games will be lit on Wednesday at the National Stadium in Vientiane, Laos, but 48 hours before the first-time hosts officially open what they hope will be a showpiece to dazzle their regional neighbours, Singapore still does not know if it will have representatives in the men's 100m race.
It beggars belief.
The decision-makers at the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) met last week for two hours apparently, but could not come to a decision whether to send Poh Seng Song and Muhd Amirudin for the race, which will be held on Dec 13.
They will make a final ruling any day now. The race is six days away, and Poh and Amirudin continue to be in the dark. Surely this calls into question the professionalism of the SAA.
The delay in naming sprinters, if any, can also be construed as a lack of respect by the national sports association for an event that always receives top billing at any multi-sports games where track and field is on the programme.
Poh, 26, and Amirudin, 22, clocked 10.49 seconds and 10.52s in the semi-finals at the Asean University Games in Kuala Lumpur last December to go under the SEA Games qualifying mark by 0.02s. It was a personal best for Poh.
Strangely, both runners have not come close to those times since, and it is this lack of consistency that is troubling the SAA.
Fair enough. But the delay in giving them the final nod is even more troubling.
Poh and Amirudin may feel aggrieved because by all accounts they have qualified on merit, but there is a strong case to be made for both sprinters to be left out of the 100m list.
As Singapore targets success at the Asian level and also eyes Olympic medals, I have said on more than one occasion that the SEA Games these days must be used as a stepping stone for greater achievement.
On that basis, the duo have failed to show any sort of progress that merits their participation in the individual race at the games.
Just hours after their semi-final that same day in Kuala Lumpur, Poh could only clock 10.68s while Amirudin posted a time of 10.76s in the final.
Over the course of the year, Poh has returned times of 10.82s, 10.83s and 10.85s. Last week at the Singapore Open, he clocked a pedestrian 10.75s in the semi-finals and failed to make the final.
Amirudin has run 10.94s, 10.82s and 10.70s in various meets this year. Last week, he was also slow in the semi-final, freezing the electronic timer at 10.78s to miss the final.
Both runners anxiously await the SAA decision.
If they do go, I just wish they were given more time to psyche themselves up for the race. I also wish the national sports association were more professional in their decision-making process for a race that is a spectacle at any games.
Right now, the selection process is a farce. - TODAY
|
