Oh dear, it looks like national hurdler Abdul Hakeem Abdul Halim has not broken Singapore’s oldest track record after all. A report in the Today newspaper back in December (Hakeem breaks oldest national track record, 17 Dec 2008) had proclaimed that the 21-year-old student had broken Osman Merican’s national 110m hurdles record when he finished second in the event in 14.45sec at the 14th Asean University Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hakeem’s time was 0.31sec faster than Merican’s 14.76sec which was set 42 years ago at the 1966 Asian Games. Since then however, the whispers going around in the local athletics community is that Hakeem’s timing may not be a new national mark after all. Word had it that the Singapore Athletic Association would not be able to ratify the time because of the absence of a wind-gauge at Hakeem’s event. And now it is confirmed. When the SAA recently uploaded the latest updated list of national records, it listed Osman Merican’s timing as the national 110m hurdles record (see Singapore National Records ) This is such a pity and one cannot help feeling sorry for Hakeem for being the victim of a technical cock-up by the organisers of the 14th Asean University Games. The Singapore Sports Fan hopes that Hakeem will bounce back from this disappointment and use it to drive him towards breaking the record this year. Keep your chin up and keep up the great work, Hakeem! Yours in Sport This article can also be found here
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