Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian broke his wrist at the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday but he was thankful as it could have been worse.
The national hurdler and record holder was leading the pack in the 110m hurdles event last night at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil when he lost control at the final hurdle and crashed to the ground. He finished the race in fourth place and was rushed to Hospital Serdang.
Benedict Ian Gawok won the race after stopping the clock at 14.46s. Rayzam holds the national record at 13.67s.
“I’m lucky it was my wrist and not my leg!” exclaimed Rayzam this morning.
“If I had landed on my leg, it would take longer to heal and I could pretty much say goodbye to all the events this year, including the 2019 SEA Games.”
Rayzam is eager to defend his gold medal at the regional Games in Manila later this year.
The Sabahan explained he did not mean to disrespect any party after venting on social media about the long wait at the hospital.
“I was feeling queasy due to the extreme pain and my last meal was lunch. After 40 minutes of posting my frustration on social media, senior doctors attended to me and told me what was wrong with my wrist. A representative of the Youth and Sports Minister also came to the hospital.
“I understand the hospital had many patients last night and yes, there were others who required immediate attention. But all I asked for was to know the status of my wrist.”
Rayzam later posted another message apologising to the hospital personnel, among others, for his outburst and thanking them for attending to him.
“The doctors managed to align my wrist and I need to undergo surgery. I left the hospital at about 4am and will be heading back to Kota Kinabalu this evening to speak to the doctors there,” he added.
“I’ll surely miss the Asian Track and Field in Doha (later this month) but I’ll be back in the next four to six weeks so my training programme will not be derailed.”
