KUALA LUMPUR – The national women’s track cycling team failed to get past the qualifying round of the International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Nations Cup in Indonesia today but at least they managed to best the national women’s team sprint record.
The trio of Nurul Aliana Syafika Azizan, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri and Anis Amira Rosidi clocked 50.388 seconds (s) at the Jakarta International Velodrome to beat the previous record of 50.559s set at the 2022 Asian Championships in New Delhi, India.
The national women’s team, however, only finished 12th out of 15 teams in Jakarta, missing out on qualifying for the top eight.
The national women riders finished 3.401s behind leaders Great Britain (46.987s). China (47.132s) and the Netherlands (47.136s) came in second and third, respectively, while New Zealand (48.254s) took the last qualifying spot.
There was more disappointment for the Malaysian camp when the men’s team also failed to clear the qualifying round, after finishing 15th out of 21 teams.
The team, comprising Asian Championship silver medallists Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis, Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom, clocked 45.436s to be 2.661s behind first-placed Australia (42.775s). France (42.899s) and Japan (43.144s) came in second and third respectively.
National track cycling ace and Tokyo Olympics keirin silver medallist Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang is set to compete in keirin tomorrow and sprint on Sunday.
The Jakarta edition, which is the first in the three-series Nations Cup, is also the first tournament offering ranking points for the Paris 2024 Olympics. – Bernama, February 24, 2023
