Malaysia’s national sprinters ended a decade-long wait for a medal in the men’s 4×400 metre event at the Morodok Techo Stadium on Friday.
Firdaus Zemi, Ruslem Zikry Putra Roseli, Tharshan Shanmugam and Umar Osman clocked three minutes and 8.820 seconds to place third in the final. Philippines claimed the gold medal in 3:07.22s while Thailand (3:07.23s) came in a close second.
Umar, who broke the national record en route to the 400m gold earlier this week, said he was proud to help Malaysia win its first medal in the 4x400m event since the 2013 Myanmar edition.
“I wasn’t thinking too much about what colour medal we would bring back. It’s a good sign for us,” said Umar.
Malaysia, however, settled for fourth place in the women’s 4x400m final after clocking 3:39.890s.
Vietnam claimed the gold on 3:33.050 while Philippines finished second on 3:37.750s. Thailand (3:39.290s) pipped Malaysia to the bronze.
Shereen Samson Vallabouy, who won the 400m gold earlier this week, put on a brave face as she ran the anchor leg for Malaysia.
Shereen received news yesterday that her grandmother M. Rajammah, 86, had died of old age but opted to run in the race.
