AYG Athletics: Shahrir Anuar’s happy feet bring him 100m bronze in 11.13s

Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports. Photos by Marvin Lowe/Red Sports.

Bishan Stadium, Friday, July 3, 2009 – 11.13 seconds after the starter’s gun fired, Shahrir Anuar crossed the line third in the Asian Youth Games (AYG) 100m boys’ final.

He had looked good for the silver medal at least, as his 11.08s effort in the heats gave him the tag of second-fastest qualifier.

Maybe, just maybe, he could win. Eyes within the stadium fixated upon him and communicated a desire to blaze beams of laser that could light up his feet and bring him all that sooner to the gold. Thoughts of turning into Cyclops, some may have entertained again.

Unfortunately, not only was Shahrir unable to overhaul Japan’s Nashimoto Masaki, the pre-race favourite, but he was also pipped to the silver at the line by Thailand’s Phiraksa Kittisak, who clocked 11.11s. Masaki was once again the only boy under 11s as his 10.82s finish improved on his 10.89s performance in the heats.

The race had started cleanly and though Shahrir was only the fourth-fastest off the blocks with a reaction time of 0.170s, he was fast gaining ground and by the 60m mark, was within reach of the lead in second place.

Japan’s Masaki seemed to have secured the gold as he raised his hands triumphantly in approach to the finish line without feeling pressure from either side of him. Shahrir, on the other hand, was being closed down by Thailand’s Kittisak on the outside and agonisingly lost a second position he looked to have held by two hundredths of a second.

We asked Shahrir how he felt after the race.

He said, “It wasn’t my best time but I’m happy to get a medal for Singapore.”

When asked about what ran through his mind as he found himself trailing others at the start, he let on that he was ‘not worried’.

Shahrir elaborated, “I was prepared to be at the back at the start as my plan was to drive harder at the start and catch up from 60m onwards.”

A strategy to counter his opponents he may have had but it was not one to counter his nerves as Shahrir told of how the race was ‘the first time (he) felt so stressed and tensed’.

“I had to calm myself down and block out negative thoughts,” he shared.

And there to help Shahrir with whatever negative thoughts he had was a pair of socks designed as a penguin that he was wearing.

Shahrir said: “I have been wearing this pair of socks for two years. I wore this also at the International Children’s Games where I won and it has become like a lucky charm for me… I thought I had lost it earlier this year but found it again when I was packing for the AYG.”

Some feet are made happy by tender loving care in the name of a pedicure. For Shahrir’s, they need only slip into a pair socks with penguin faces and they will roar into life!

On the closing day of the athletics competition, two other Singaporeans saw action with Syafiq Poh Shahabiddin in the boys’ triple jump final and Ranjitha Raja in the girls’ 800m final.

Syafiq returned to the sandpit after yesterday’s ninth place finish in the long jump with hopes of doing better, and he achieved that with a new personal best of 13.93m, improving on his previous PB of 13.24m set at the National Inter-School Track-and-Field Championships in April. That effort, however, on his second of six attempts, could only place him fifth in the field of eight competitors.

The four in front of him all recorded leaps over 14.00m with the winner – Kudryashov Konstatin of Kazakhstan – hop, step and jumping to a distance of 14.80m for the gold. Yan Tun of China pipped Kurbanov Ruslan of Uzbekistan to the silver medal on count-back after both recorded distances of 14.59m.

In the final individual event of the four-day competition, Ranjitha Raja ran a lion-hearted race to ensure she did not finish last in the field of seven finalists – Boudsadee Vongdala of Laos did not show – after she had qualified for the final with the slowest time of the eight qualifiers.

Kabat Namita of India led from start to finish to win in a time of 2 minutes 15.55 seconds. She had passed the halfway mark in a fast time of 1:06.94 as others struggled to follow her pace. Ranjitha knew it was too fast for her and wisely sat last in the pack of runners.

But once the bell sounded, Ranjitha started to increase her intensity as she was adamant to reward the support for her in the stands by catching at least a runner. She caught not one but two competitors to finish fifth in a time of 2:29.22.

Said Ranjitha after the race, “I didn’t want to disappoint Singapore and the friends and family who came to support me.”

Indeed, against Asian athletics giants such as Japan, China and even Thailand, the Singapore athletics team can be proud of their respectable four-bronze haul as the Asian Youth Games concluded for them.