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Two of Malaysia’s track and field athletes, who were part of the team that will compete at the Qosanov Memorial Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, have been stopped from boarding their plane at KLIA
The incident happened after both of them had boarded a bus at the National Sports Council (NSC) compound at 9pm on Monday, 14 June, together with the other officials and athletes bound for Kazakhstan.
The athletes were headed to KLIA to catch their flight that was supposed to take off after midnight to Dubai and then to Kazakhstan, according to a report in New Straits Times earlier today, 16 June.
Once they reached KLIA, all the athletes had to show security their PCR test results. Out of the total 10 athletes, eight were allowed to pass the airport gates with an all-clear from security.
However, the two athletes, Khairul Hafiz Jantan and Haiqal Hanafi, were stopped.
According to Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk S M Muthu, the two sprinters were found to be positive for COVID-19 based on their PCR results, which had already been emailed to them.
Haiqal and Khairul reportedly forgot to check their email prior to “confidently” boarding the bus at the NSC compound with others
As per the report, the duo has been training at the Bandar Penawar Sports School in Johor before they arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night, 13 June, and had their PCR tests the next morning.
All athletes leaving for the Qosanov Memorial Championships, the final chance for Malaysia’s track and field athletes to qualify for the Olympics, have to go through PCR tests, as required by regulations.
Haiqal, who is SEA Games 100m champion, and Khairul, who is the national 100m record holder, did not bother checking their email for their test results as they said to be oblivious to its importance.
Haiqal is believed to be the source of the infection among the two athletes.
He contracted the virus from his grandmother who had died two weeks ago from COVID-19, and Khairul picked it up from Haiqal as both are friends who trained and travelled together from Johor.
Haiqal Hanafi.
Image via @haiqallhanafii (Instagram)
Khairul Hafiz Jantan.
Image via MYNEWSHUB
The MAF president said that he was left bewildered as he could not believe both the athletes’ foolishness after so much was spent on preparing them in their bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics
“Until now I can’t believe the events that unfolded (on Monday night) which led to both the sprinters being stopped at the KLIA,” New Straits Times quoted an extremely angry Muthu as saying.
“Luckily the others were allowed to board after intervention from the NSC and that their records showed COVID-19 negative,” he said, adding that Haiqal and Khairul have now been quarantined for two weeks.
The eight athletes competing in Almaty this weekend are Lee Hup Wei (men’s high jump), Andre Anura Anuar (long jump), Hakimi Ismail (triple jump), Jonathan Nyepa (100m), Ilham Suhaimi (400m), Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian (110m hurdles), Connie Chu Kang Ni (women’s discus), and Yap Sean Yee (high jump).
The Qosanov Memorial Championships will take place on 19 and 20 June.
29 June is the last date for the Olympic qualification period for the Tokyo Games that is taking place next month, from 23 July to 8 August, amidst the pandemic.