Malaysian athletics chief coach Manshahar Abdul Jalil claimed national 110m hurdles star Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian was robbed of a gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games on Monday night.
He said that there was clearly injustice by the competition’s technical side, as they decided the winner based on the right-corner view only — the International Amateur Athlete Federation (IAAF) specifies that a photo finish result must be evaluated from the right and left corners to determine the true winner.
Furthermore, Malaysian representatives were not allowed to view the recording of the race.
Rayzam Shah and the host’s naturalised athlete, Clinton Kingsley Bautista, recorded the same time of 13.97s in the event, but the competition’s technical division gave the win to Clinton based on the photo finish, which saw the Sabah-born athlete fail to retain the gold medal he won in 2017.
Laos' Anousone Xaysa won the bronze medal with a time of 13.99s.
"Actually the process to deny the Philippine’s athlete the gold medal had been made in accordance with the stipulated procedure to show that we had the right to win the gold medal.
"All the protests had been made within the stipulated time. However, the process did not take place as it should have under the competition regulation.
"It was something that shouldn't have happened and resulted in us being deprived of a gold medal," said Manshahar.
Meanwhile, national athletics squad manager Sallehudin Satar revealed that his side would extend the matter to the SEA Games Federation (SEAGF).
"I expect the case to be taken to a higher level, and as a reference at the ASEAN level," said Sallehudin, who was also the Johor Athletics Association deputy president.
It was the second controversial result involving a Malaysian athlete in the Philippines, as Izzah Amzan's gold medal was inexplicably revoked.
Bernama
Tue Dec 10 2019
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