PETALING JAYA: The Higher Education Ministry has come up with a programme to train budding athletes and realise Malaysia’s desire to produce 100m sprinters who can run under 10 seconds.

       Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad said the "100m Run Under 10 Seconds Project (Project B10s)", the first of its kind in Malaysia, will be part of the ministry’s Bitara Programme.

       “B10s is a specific project and very special because it is the first project of its kind in Malaysia that only focuses on one sporting event discipline,” she said when launching the project online Friday (Nov 5).

       Noraini said the ministry has aspirations to develop a 100m sprinter who can complete the race in under 10 seconds - a feat seen as a hallmark that raises an athlete to world-class status - within the next five years.

       She added that the Bitara programme is a strategic, high impact focus of the ministry for the year 2021 and beyond, that cuts across divisions, departments, agencies and ministries.

       Noraini also said B10s would tap into the knowledge of former national sprinting champions and coaches, as well as collaborate with international experts to create “Malaysia’s fastest human.”

       “It could also be a one-stop centre or hub for producing South-East Asian and Asian sprinting champions,” she added.

       She said the project will be carefully focused, planned and carried out by multiple agencies with the Higher Education Ministry Athletics Focus Sports Centre, which has been placed at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), as the project coordinator.

       She also said the ministry’s Sports Section Policy Planning and Research Division will coordinate it on behalf of the ministry.

       She also thanked, among others, the Youth and Sports Ministry, National Sports Institute and the Malaysian Athletics Union for their support for this programme.

       “Four main aspects have been outlined to drive this project covering administration and finance, development programme and competition, intensive training module and media, promotion and strategic relations,” she added.

       Noraini said to date, no Malaysian has achieved this feat and the best time recorded by a Malaysian is 10.18 seconds by Khairul Hafiz Jantan, who won gold in the 2017 SEA Games.

       She also said the current world record holder for the 100m sprint is Jamaica’s Usain Bolt who clocked 9.58 seconds in the event, adding that since 1968, only 143 sprinters worldwide have run the race in under 10 seconds.

       “Hopefully, along this journey to break the under 10 seconds record, I believe this project will produce some national sprinting champions.

       “It is also not impossible for South-East Asian sprint champions as well as Asian champions to emerge,” she said, adding that there could also be someone who dominated the 4X100 meter relay event.