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SINGAPORE : Shahrir Mohd Anuar shot off the starting block less than two-hundredths of a second after the starter's pistol went, fractionally faster than Japan's Masaki Nashimoto.
But that was the only time the 16-year-old was in front of the Japanese in the Asian Youth Games boys' 100m Final on Friday.
Just as he promised, Masaki burned rubber as he roared down the Bishan Stadium straight, hitting the tape ahead of the rest of the field to bag the gold medal in 10.82sec.
Thailand's Kittisak Phiraksa clocked 11.11s to pip Shahrir for the silver, with the Singaporean posting a time of 11.13s. The Hunabashi City High School student drowned out the "Shahrir, Shahrir" chant from the 2,000-strong partisan crowd, going faster than his qualifying time of 10.89s to take home the Games' most coveted individual medal and the Frasia soft toy (the Games mascot) he had promised his girlfriend.
While 15-year-old Masaki's race went according plan, the same could not be said of Shahrir. The Singapore Sports School student looked sluggish in the first 20 metres, then picked up the pace but just when it seemed he would finish behind the Japanese, he let silver slip.
"If there's one thing I regret, it's not seeing the Thai boy catching up at the end of the race," he said. "I prefer to be at the back in the first 20m, then to catch up at the 60m mark, but I probably should have driven harder at the start. That's probably why I couldn't catch up with Masaki."
Failed tactics aside, he admitted that he was struck by a bout of nerves.
"For the first time, I felt tense and a bit stressed before a race. Maybe it's because I was running on home soil, where there's a natural pressure to do well," he said. "At the start, the crowd was a bit distracting, but I have to say they were fantastic and I felt sorry that I had to block them out."
Whatever the reason, Shahrir's time in the final fell way short of his personal best of 10.90s. Asked if his runner had the mental toughness to become a top sprinter, coach Remy Gan only had one word: "Definitely."
Masaki has already promised his girlfriend a soft toy from next year's Youth Olympics, which Singapore will host from Aug 14-26. He wants gold again.
Singapore's hope Shahrir will meet him again, along with sprinters from the rest of the world. He has about a year to get his gameplan right. - TODAY /ls
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