In the elimination races, Hafiq Jafri finished 18th in the men’s final, while Nur Aisyah Zubir finished the women’s final in 21st place. She said tactical errors were the main cause of her failure today.

“Maybe I was lax because the pace of the race was so fast. When I was in front, I felt that I had slipped up tactically and when I was in that situation, I didn’t have room to sprint,” she said.

The national women’s sprint team – Anis Amira Rosidi, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri and Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid – were eliminated in the first round when they lost to the Polish team of Marlena Karwacka, Nikola Seremak and Nikola Sibiak in a time of 47.673s against the national squad’s 48.297s.

Anis Amira tried to look on the bright side of things after the loss, stating that the time they recorded nearly matched the national record of 48.086s.

“I wouldn’t say we’re disappointed as our time was very near to the national record. At the same time, I just recovered from a fever and Izzah was also unwell, so for us to get such a good time is something positive.

“During qualification, our focus was on doing our best to get to the next round. In the first round, we wanted to improve on our time, but maybe the track conditions changed and pressure was also a factor,” she added.

The national men’s sprint team of Akmal Nazimi Jusena, Fadhil Zonis and Adib Andhar Andan, who replaced the injured Muhammad Ridwan, lost in the qualifying round with the second slowest time of 45.704s.