THE quest of two national sprint champions, Khairul Hafiz Jantan and Muhammad Haiqal Hanafi, to participate in the Qosanov Memorial Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan this weekend, was dashed after being blocked from leaving the country from the KL International Airport (KLIA) on Monday.

Malaysian Athletics Federation president S.M. Muthu said the duo were not allowed to leave for Almaty after Haiqal tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at KLIA.

He said the situation caused Khairul to also miss the opportunity to go to Kazakhstan to participate in the meet from June 19-20, after being in close contact with Haiqal, despite his swab test result being negative for the virus.

Muthu said he was disappointed with Haiqal’s negligence as he allegedly forgot to check the result of the swab test he did in Shah Alam on Monday morning, which was sent via email, thus derailing his plan to compete in Kazakhstan with Khairul Hafiz.

“Only Haiqal was confirmed positive while Khairul was a close contact as both of them underwent training in Johor. Both of them are currently undergoing quarantine at the National Sports Council, Bukit Jalil,” he said when contacted today.

Haiqal and Khairul are athletes who attended training sessions at the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) in Bandar Penawar since the middle of last Ramadan (in April) under the guidance of sprint coach Mohd Poad Md Kassim.

Haiqal was due to compete in the 100m while Khairul Hafiz in the 200m.

The latest development sees only eight athletes representing the country at the meet, namely Lee Hup Wei (high jump), Andre Anura Anuar (long jump), Muhammad Hakimi Ismail (triple jump), Connie Chu (discus), Yap Sean Yee (high jump), Jonathan Nyepa (100m) and Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian (110m hurdles), and Muhammad Ilham Suhaimi (400m).

Muthu said the other seven athletes showed no symptoms and were allowed to leave for Kazakhstan early yesterday morning even though they had boarded the same bus as Haikal and Khairul.

“They are expected to arrive in Kazakhstan tonight, and will be required to undergo a swab test again upon arrival there,” he said.

Meanwhile, head coach of the national athletics squad Mohd Manshahar Abdul Jalil informed that Haiqal and Khairul are in good condition despite the unexpected turn of events and hoped that they would both be resilient and able to bounce back for their next meet.

Manshahar at the same time hoped that the other seven athletes could use this golden opportunity to perform their best in Kazakhstan despite not having competed in any international meets for more than a year after the last time at the 2019 SEA Games in Manila due to the Covid-19 pandemic. – Bernama, June 16, 2021.