Kuala lumpur: The presence of senior runner Aliff Iman Mohd Fahimi leading a line-up of fresh faces in the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) men's 4x100-meter (m) quartet yielded lucrative results when they successfully clocked a time under 40 seconds at the 2026 Higher Education Institutions Sports Games (SUKIPT) today.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the success of winning the gold medal with a time of 39.98 seconds not only erased the old games record of 40.98 seconds, but also proved that the university's athletics legacy transition process is on the right track. Aliff Iman, making his final appearance at SUKIPT, described the success as a renewal for the UPM team, which is now entirely manned by junior runners experiencing the heat of the championships for the very first time.
"And this time I came with an all-junior team, all first-time SUKIPT. So this is a renewal for the relay quartet or sprint event at UPM. I will also be leaving the UPM legacy since this is my last SUKIPT. So I give the best for UPM," he said at the UM Arena, Universiti Malaya, here today.
Aliff Iman added that he bore a heavy responsibility to ensure the legacy left by big names like Jonathan Nyepa and Zulfiqar Ismail is continued by the new generation who possess immense potential. His confidence in his teammates was the main key as they dared to set high targets based on their respective individual timing records.
"I have confidence in my teammates showing a fight where we know their average is 10.4 seconds and 10.5 seconds. So for me, if we run like that, it's not impossible for us to break under 40 seconds," said the runner, who wore wristbands inscribed with 'Papa' and 'Mama' as a sign of his return to the athletics arena after being forced to rest due to an injury for six months.
Meanwhile, Reeve Kua, who was on the same team, shared that he had to battle a high fever before stepping onto the track. "Yesterday I had just recovered from a fever, a really high fever. I didn't know what would happen, so I just slept, I took Panadol. Today, thank God I can run without pain," he said.
Despite having to compete closely with national runner Danish Iftikhar Muhammad Roslee from the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) team, the final anchor runner, Ahmad Amir Aiman Mohd Kamaruddin, placed complete trust in his teammates who handed him the baton. Earlier, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), strengthened by national runner Danish Iftikhar, placed second with a time of 40.16 seconds, while the bronze went to Malaysian Polytechnics (41.75 seconds).