KUANTAN, A false start sent national sprinter Muhammad Azeem Fahmi crashing out of the men’s 200 metres semi-finals at the Malaysian Open athletics championships at Stadium Darul Makmur here tonight.

The Perak-born athlete admitted that he had only himself to blame for the fiasco.

‘It was beyond my control; I am sorry and would like to thank those who turned up to watch this event.

‘I was impatient and it was not meant to be. Now, my focus is on the 100 metres,’ he said.

The 20-year-old runner holds the 100 metres national record of 10.09 seconds and his best time this season is 10.24s, recorded at the LSU Invitational athletics championships in Los Angeles on April 27.

However, that time is still far off the 10s he has to clock to automatically qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Tonight’s 200 metres race was won by Jonathan Nyepa of the Armed Forces in a time of 21.28s, with Jack Boulton of Australia (21.33s) finishing second and Muhammad Efrain Feerzan Khan of Pahang (21.55s) third.

The three-day Malay
sian Open, which started today, has attracted 578 athletes from 17 teams from Malaysia and eight other countries, including Australia and Russia.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency