KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s ace cyclists Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom missed out on the quarterfinals of the sprint event at the Izu Velodrome today.
The national duo, who lost in the 1/8 Finals earlier, were handed another bend at qualifying for the quarterfinals through the 1/8 Finals repechages at the Tokyo Olympics but failed.
National Track Cycling coach John Beasley said in his Facebook post that he was proud of the cyclists, who tried their best, but at the same time said that they were in Tokyo to win the keirin event.
The keirin event will take place on Saturday and Azizulhasni will be looking to add another Olympic medal after capturing the bronze in Rio 2016.
“I am proud of the boys, no matter the outcome today. The keirin event is the event we came to Tokyo to win.
“The sprint was always an event to fine-tune things on the way into the keirin.
He said that Malaysia has the smallest sprint cyclist in the world, and it is difficult to take on the giants when the rules are currently as they are, with physically-larger athletes having the advantage.
Beasley insisted that the current rules permit larger and heavier athletes to have greater advantage because gears raced in have become bigger, which allow athletes around 100kg plus in body weight to do well.
“The sprint is all about acceleration and being bigger, heavier really helps with this portion of the event when the gears are as large as they are currently.
“The keirin event is based around speed, power and tactical execution. This is where our cyclists excel.
“The acceleration phase is a lot less because we are executing race moves from 70kph to 80kph and that takes away the advantage that heavy riders have,” he said in his post.
Other cyclists in Tokyo should be aware of the threat that Azizulhasni poses in the keirin event as he is the top rider in the world. Azizul had won the World Championship title in the keirin and became the first Malaysian to ever wear the coveted rainbow jersey.
Azizulhasni became the first Malaysian track cyclist to win an Olympic medal when he returned home with a bronze in the men’s keirin event at the 2016 Rio Games
Azizulhasni is also the favourite to win the keirin in Tokyo.
“We are on track to win the keirin. I just want everyone to get a balanced measured honest statement, straight from the coach,” Beasley said. – The Vibes, August 5, 2021
