Nur Herman Banking On Mohd Rizzua, Muhammad Hazriq To Shine In Thailand SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 (Bernama) -- National athletics legend Nur Herman Majid, who is now a hurdles coach, hopes his two athletes can get on the podium in the 110-metre (m) hurdles event at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand in December.

He is counting on Mohd Rizzua Haizad Muhamad, who clocked a season-best 14.13 seconds (s) last year, and Johor teenager Muhammad Hazriq Cik Mat Kilau.

Nur Herman, a bronze medallist in the men's 110m hurdles at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan, said they have shown progress despite still in the learning process.

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"Insya-Allah, everything depends on them, their determination and how far they want to go. As a coach, I can only guide them to reach a higher level.

"This year, my target is to see them reach the highest level and, hopefully, become SEA Games medallists at the end of this year,” Nur Herman, the winner of six SEA Games gold medals, said in a video clip shared by the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) today.

Mohd Rizzua, 28, who set his best time of 13.85s in Thailand in July 2023, is an athlete under the Podium Programme.

Eighteen-year-old Muhammad Hazriq, winner of two gold medals (including the hurdles) at the 2023 Southeast Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Bangkok, is under the backup programme and set his best time of 14.25s last July.

In the men's 110m hurdles final at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, Thailand's Natthaphon Dansungnoen and Singapore's Ang Chen Xiang were joint gold medallists after clocking 13.831s while Filipino John Cabang took bronze in 13.86s.

Malaysia last won a SEA Games men's hurdles medal when Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian clinched silver in the 2019 edition in the Philippines, which resulted in him failing to defend the gold he had won on home ground two years earlier.

For the record, Nur Herman had competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Nur Herman, the 1991 Asian Championships gold medallist, also held the national record for 23 years with a time of 13.73s before Rayzam Shah eclipsed it by clocking 13.67s in 2017.

-- BERNAMA