National sprint athletes train with aid of False Start Detection System

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Bernama) -- The country’s best sprinters and national junior athletes trained for the first time with the help of the false start detection system during a simulation session at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, today.

The national athletes who participated in the simulation session were SEA Games gold medallists Khairul Hafiz Jantan (2017 edition) and Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi (2019 edition), Muhammad Arsyad Md Saat and rising star Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi.

National athletics squad head Mohd Manshahar Abdul Jalil said the initiative aimed to provide exposure to the athletes in order to improve their response time, besides reducing the risk of early starts.

"I would like to thank Innotex for helping to run a very good simulation, whereby this is very important to help athletes understand how this advanced equipment works.

"We know that at the starting line of the 100 or 200m (race), reaction time is very important to determine whether (athlete’s run) can be disqualified or not," he said when met here.

National 100m record holder Khairul Hafiz (10.18s) , Muhammad Haiqal and Muhammad Arsyad are expected to take part in the Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkiye from Aug 9 to 18, while Muhammad Azeem will participate in the Under-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia from Aug 1 to 6.

"I am very grateful to Innotex for providing me with this opportunity to help with my starts. During this (simulation) session, there were improvements made from the first to the final set, and what I have gained today I will use during the actual races," said Muhammad Azeem.

In the meantime, Khairul Hafiz said the technology provided him with a better understanding of factors that could disqualify an athlete’s run.

"I once experienced (disqualification) when I was at the Asian Track and Field final, at the time, I didn't know what was the reason for the disqualification, because in the video replay, it looked like the person next to me started first but I was the one who was disqualified.

“Now that we know this system better, we can fix the weaknesses and avoid such an incident recurring," he said.

-- BERNAMA