Caption: Md Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid Hj Mohd Idris (4th R) during semi-final 2 of the men's 200m event at the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. Picture: Courtesy of JBS
Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL sprinter Md Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid Hj Mohd Idris braved the cold weather conditions to produce a season’s best in the men’s 200m event at the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan yesterday.
Firdaus clocked a time of 21.88 seconds in Heat 1 in the morning at 14℃ weather to qualify for the semi-finals as four of the fastest qualifiers at the Baku Olympic Stadium.
He went faster and crossed the line on 21.71s to place fourth out of eight runners in semi-final 2, bettering his previous season best of 21.84s, in the afternoon at 17℃ weather but it was not enough for him to book a berth in the final.
Despite not achieving his target of breaking his national record of 21.64s set at the Malaysia Open in October last year, Firdaus was satisfied with the outing.
“It was very difficult because it was very windy and I’m not used to the cold weather,” said Firdaus in an interview with BruSports yesterday.
“It was very hard to keep the body warm during warm up and I have to admit it was also very hard to breathe.
“Despite the cold weather, I did my best. I still managed to improve my time from the heat in the semi-final having adapt to the cold weather to do better,” added the 21-year-old.
“Alhamdulillah I am very happy with the result. I have gained a lot of experience here.
“I have also learnt a lot of things which I can apply to help improve on my run,” continued the Tutong native.
The event concludes Brunei’s participation at the May 12-22 Games.
National karateka Md Fida’iy Hj Sanif was the other Bruneian at Baku and he fell in the second round of the men’s kumite -60kg event after losing 6-0 to Azerbaijan’s Farzaliyev Firdovsi on Saturday.
