The big day draws closer and this is their final pitstop.
The dynamic duo of Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Pg Rositi and Maziah Mahusin (pic) left Brunei yesterday for the 19th Open International Athletics Tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The July 10-12 event is the last competition for the national runners to be game-ready for the July 27-Aug 12 London Olympics.
They will take part in their respective 400-metre events in Vietnam the same programmes they are doing at the Olympics.
Maziah's best time in the 400m event is 1:01.14 which she clocked during the 7th Southeast Asian (SEA) Youth Athletics Championships in Singapore in early May.
She is not turning her attention to the time, but instead is looking to putting in a good run.
"I'm not going to think about the time. I'm going to just focus on the game and just run," said Maziah during an interview with The Brunei Times prior to their departure yesterday.
The 19-year-old Bruneian is set to make history as she becomes the first female athlete from the Sultanate to participate in the Olympics.
Maziah with Olympic-bound swimmer Anderson Lim Chee Wei being the other is a recipient of the London 2012 Olympic Scholarships.
For Hafiy (pic), his personal best is 49.23 seconds which he set at the 2012 Taiwan Open Athletics Championships in May.
The 21-year-old lanky runner, who celebrated his birthday on July 4, is looking to go faster to better his previous best time.
"I can only do my best at this meet. I want to be able to beat my personal best time for this trip," said Hafiy.
A total of 29 teams nine foreign and 20 domestic will be competing for top honours at the tournament.
Besides Brunei, the other foreign countries are Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar and the Philippines.
Lim will be the only other athlete to represent Brunei at the London Olympics. He will become the first swimmer from the country to swim in the Olympics.
The Sultanate's participation at the Olympics has been made possible courtesy of universality places that the world governing bodies of athletics and swimming, IAAF and FINA respectively, have opened to countries that have no qualified athletes.
Courtesy from Brunei Times
