DEBUTANTS the Malaysian Indian Sports and Cultural Foundation (MISCF) Selangor branch bagged four out of six categories at the 2nd Merdeka Kuala Kubu Bharu (KKB) 21km Road relay held on Saturday which was flagged off at the Stadium Mini Kuala Kubu Bharu.
The categories they won were Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Junior and Boys’ Open while they had 3rdfinishing in the Women’s Junior. They were coached by M. Arul Thevar.
A majority of the runners had represented Selangor in the Sukan India Malaysia last year and this year.
The teams have been in training for two months and it is little wonder they made an impact.
The top five teams in each category won trophies and cash prize money with the champion getting additional rewards with Bata shoes and a take away trophy. A total of RM12,500 was up for grabs. All finishers also received an impressive finishers medal.
Last year’s top team rom Perak, Panther Club from Ipoh who had won the men’s open and were runners up in the women’s category, had to settle third spot in the Men’s category and fourth spot in the women’s category.
A total of 89 teams registered for the event but 70 started. Last year saw 75 teams registers and 62 compete.
The event the brainchild of Malaysia’s former middle distance runner whose 800 meter national record still stands – B. Rajkumar was conceived to be one platform to revive the interest in middle distance running in the country where fresh talents could be discovered, groomed and nurtured to possibly representing the country in athletics besides reviving road relays and also athletics club concept.
And the motive was indeed achieved with event attracting school children and youth to come in numbers. . Besides a majority of the teams comprised multi-racial runners.
The collaboration with Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Move Malaysia which promotes community participation and youngsters through healthy living and the Education Ministry indeed played a key role in the increase in the number of participation among the younger generation.
Datuk Paduka Mumtaz Jaafar the OCM vice-president and chairperson of Move Malaysia and Datuk P. Kamalanathan, Deputy Education Ministry and MP for Hulu Selangor were both present at the event.
Kamalanathan had contributed towards the total pize money of RM12,500 and part of the organisation cost, while Move Malaysia contributed RM10,000 to make this event a reality.
The event jointly sanctioned by FTKLAA and Selangor AAA saw other partners like 100 Plus, Ultron Micro-dry T-shirts manufacturer, an NGO Youth-On-Unity, Malaysia’s favorite shoes company Bata, The Golden Goose Hotel, UC Kindies and individual donors Datuk Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan and Datuk Ow Soon Kooi make this event possible.
Kamalanathan was very impressed with the participation of youngsters that he wants the event to be a regular feature in KKB and hope the athletics authorities will use this event to spot fresh talent.
Mumtaz , who is also the vice-president of Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) intends to recommend the top athletes from this event to be roped into their development programmes.
Among the others present at the event was Zainal Abas, the Education Ministry Sports Division deputy director and also national chief athletics coach, former national footballer Datuk Santokh Singh, the ambassador for Malaysian Indian Football Association (MIFA). Former national athletes Selvarani Shamimi, Josephine Mary (now national athletics coach), Samson Vallabouy, D. Jeyakumar and former national coach and personal coach to Rajkumar, A. Tripadi.
Next year, the event has already been set for 1 Sept, 2018.
RESULTS:
Category: A – Men Open (19 and above)
1) MISCF Selangor — Govinda Mogan, Jivarasan Suthagar, Prethib Kumar Janaky, Sivaneshwaran Gunasegaran. 1’14:00s
2) Ayam Goreng MCD — Anas Rosli, Amirulamin, Raagaventhiran Muniandy, Khiirren Rreddy. 1’16:06s
3) Panthers Athletics Club (Perak) — Maheswaran Sunmugam, Chew Kai Ho, Mhathir Hyder Ali, Rajvinder Singh Mathu. 1’20:04s
4) Pacesetters 1.0 — Cheng Jun Wen, Asdi Weding, Goh Shu Wei, Goh Jing Jing. 1’21:29
5) AVS — Nah Soon Ann, Zane Han KAi Liang, Arjun Varma Perumal, Rubeinthiran. 1’24:55s.
Category: B – Women Open (19 years above)
1) MISCF Selangor — Sheela Samivellu, Sanggetha Subramaniam, Manisha Arokiasamay, Pavithra Das. 1’28:47s
2) Pacesetters 3.0 — Ong Sue Ming, Michelle Looi, Loh Voon Ying, Loh Chooi Fern. 1’36:13s
3) Powerpuff Girls and Mojojojo — Michele Tan bee Kiang, Ho Kah Mun, Melissa Lim Yi Xin, Chua Kit Yeng. 1’37:33s
4) Panthers Athletic Club Perak — Margaret Mary, Kirthana Loganathan, Narmadha Munikrishnan, Nivedya Munikrishnan. 1’43:51s
5) Wind Runners — Tan Mei Wee, Heng Jai Wen, Lim Siaw Cheng, Noor Farin Rusdi. 1’44:12s
Category: C – Men Junior (16-18 years)
1) MISCF Selangor — Gamgesh Raj, Sankaran Karimuthu, Thirsen Kumar, Devan Karimuthu. 1’20:04s
2) Star One SMK KKB — Ismail Abdullah, Dhana Ruban, Fauzi Abdullah, Praveen Muniandy. 1’24:43s
3) Runner Never Quit — Sasikumar Sundramoorthy, Abdol Sabri, Aiman Hakimi Yusof, Abdul Aziz Kamaludin. 1’24:50s
4) MK 4 SMK Taman Bunga Raya — Thamilarasan Margabanthu, Anbalagan Kalidas, Ganesvaran Krishnan, Heman Ganesan. 1’37:34
5) Manna’s Striver — Shahron Raj, Dheyran, Jivienesh Sankar, Balamurugan. 1’38:24s
Category: D – Women Junior (16-18 years)
1) Fly Fly Girls — Kothanayaagi, Ho Hooi Yi, Kijingwen, Nurfazleen. 1’39:45s
2) PersatuanPembangunan Modal Insan Kaum India Larut Matang & Selama (women Junior) — Yogashree Raja Sehkaran, Hema Vathi Kumaraguru, Thamilselvi Thilnathan, Jagatiswary Parameswaran. 2’00:26s
3) MIFA H/Selangor ‘B’ KKB — Pavithra Balakrishnan, Punithawathy Mahanderan, Liew Zi Qi, Sivaranjini Omapparao. 2’50:10s
4) The Fighters SMK Dato Haji Kamaruddin — Lokanayagi Ferancis Xavear, Karisma Kaur Gagdish Singh, Kirthana Sunthkara Rao, Darshine Batumalai. 1’25:18
5) Sri Mannan’s Jaguars — Shubashini, Vithiyashurubini, Jayprety, Shalini. 2’52:52
Category: E – Boys (13-15 years)
1) MISCF Selangor (Boys – A) — Devassharja Sathiamorthy, Kishotharan Rajendran, Kishan Jayabalan, Avineshwar Austin Murugan. 1’21:32s
2) Kelab Olahraga Garuda Ipoh — Moganakumaran Munusamy, Mateish Kirubakaran, Saran Gopal, Saran Raj Balakrishnan. 1’27:41s
3) MISCF Selangor (Boys – B) — Sudhan Prabakharan, Vijayadarshan Vijaya Indiran, Prasheelan Pusparajan, Movin Rajandran. 1’32:08s
4) Jaguars Runs SMK Bandar Baru Batang Kali — Idham Ghani, Fazrul Aiman, Mahdin Khairi, Faiz Saufi. 1’46:25s
5) MIFA H/Selangor ‘C’ KKB — Vignadarshan Thanabalan, Kiran Balachandar, Andrew Aruldas, Kathiresan. 1’53:10s
Category: F – Girls (13-15 years)
1) Selangor XC Runner — Taarini Chandramohan, Harinee Muneenthiran, Esther Joy Chen Hong Li, Aafren Irdina Aizar. 1’4-:13s
2) Kelab Olahraga Garuda Ipoh — Loshini Ragu, Ooi Zi En, Sanjana Kaur, Sahrmila Letchumygantan. 1’50:02s
3) PJVG Girls Team (SMDHK KKB) — Yatshayini Krisnan, Premela Muniandy, Janaathini Vadiveloo, Gayathiri Dharmalingam. 2’41:53s
4) Selipar Terbang — Lim Shey Yu, Bernice Koh Jun Yan, Rachel Ong Wei Zhen, Debbie Tan Ru Shan. 2’57:26s
5) SMK Dato Haji Kamaruddin ‘B’ — Archana Ravisamkor, Soundarya Logendran, Kaveena Sivaguru, Periadarsini Vijiyan. 3’02:56s.
