National athlete Maziah Mahusin
in action at the 4th Borneo Games
in Samarinda,East Kalimantan,in
Indonesia,last December.Maziah
last week clocked 1:01:14 during
the 7th Southeast Asian (SEA)
Youth Athletics Championships
in Singapore. Picture:Infofoto

Maziah Mahusin isn't resting on her laurels despite "breaking" her 400-metre record in Singapore last week.

The national athlete clocked 1:01:14 during the 7th Southeast Asian (SEA) Youth Athletics Championships, and though her previous best was 1:01:09 which she set at the 4th Borneo Games in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, in Indonesia, last December Maziah feels that last week's result was a better indication of her strength.

"In Singapore it was electronic timing, but in Kalimantan it was hand-held," she told The Brunei Times yesterday.

"Electronic timing is always more accurate.

"I'm not sure how fast I ran at the Borneo Games, but it was definitely 61 seconds too.

"I'm kind of upset with the time in Singapore though. I thought I could have run below one minute. The winner was from Vietnam and she ran 54 seconds, so I'll have to concentrate more in training and keep focused if I want to keep improving on my time.

"I'll also need to compete in more races.

"The Taiwan Open is coming up on May 24 ... I hope I'll do better then," added the 19-year-old Bruneian.

Maziah, who is expected to feature for the country at the London Olympics in July, ended last week's race in seventh but was adamant she could have finished better.

"I was fifth until the last 10m, but two Singaporeans overtook me ... I was shocked (but) that's why I finished seventh," she explained.

Maziah always knew the competition would be stiff in Singapore, saying that the tournament was "just like the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games except at a junior level", prior to leaving.

The country's other representative at the Lion City, Abdul Muqsith Hj Yahya, didn't take to the track after being advised by the race-doctor not to do so.

The 19-year-old Abdul Muqsith had just recovered from a hamstring injury and Maziah said that he pulled out of his event, the 400m, after feeling pain before the race.

Maziah like national swimmer Anderson Lim Chee Wei is a recipient of the London 2012 Olympic Scholarships, winning the International Olympic Council (IOC) scholarship in November and now being provided US$1,000 a month to help in training.

Brunei will be competing at the July 25-Aug 12 Olympics courtesy of the universality places which the world governing bodies for athletics and swimming have opened to countries that have no qualified athletes.

Courtesy from Brunei Times