KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s sprinter Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli does not want her coaching duties at the Bukit Jalil Sports School (SSBJ) to interfere with her dream of competing at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand in December.
The 32-year-old athlete, also known as “Adik”, said her focus now is on recovering from a ligament injury in her foot, sustained while competing at the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in Gumi, South Korea, in May, as she works towards qualifying for the biennial Games.
“It’s a bit challenging because Adik is already working, so the recovery process is taking a bit more time.
“I didn’t even realise I had the injury during the competition. It was only after returning home that I found out there was a tear in my foot ligament, but I’ve continued training slowly,” she said when met recently.
She also said she is preparing to compete in the upcoming Malaysia Open as part of her build-up to the 2025 SEA Games.
“For now, my main focus is, of course, the Malaysia Open because I want to qualify for the SEA Games, and more importantly, I want to improve my time compared to what I ran in Korea.
“Actually, based on my top 3 timing, I should have already qualified. But we still want to see how things go towards the end, especially in the final stages before the selection is made,” said Zaidatul, who was recently appointed an athletics coach at SSBJ.
She also expressed hope that the return of sprint coach Mohd Poad Kassim to the national squad would help her maintain consistency.
“As an athlete, we naturally hope to have a coach by our side for motivation. As sprinters, there are technical aspects that need to be refined, and sometimes we don’t even realise the mistakes we’re making — only an experienced coach can detect and correct them,” she said.
— BERNAMA
