OWN AMBITIONS
Irwandie has teammate Afiq to thank after winning track gold
DEVINDER SINGH devinder@nst.com.my
IRWANDIE Lakasek had the tireless work of teammate Afiq Huznie Othman to thank as he won track cycling’s first gold medal in the men’s scratch race at the newlybuilt Nilai Velodrome yesterday.
It was the first of three gold medals for Malaysia on the opening day of the track programme with the men’s and women’s sprint teams also mounting the top step of the podium.
Kicking off the afternoon session, 22-year-old Irwandie and Afiq executed a well-calculated plan to win the scratch event.
After Irwandie and Thailand’s Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn gained a lap on the main bunch halfway through the 15km event, Afiq worked hard to ensure nobody else made a break for it.
That paved the way for Irwandie to sprint for the finish on the last lap followed closely by Thurakit. Thailand’s Thanawut Sanikwathi led home the rest of the 11-man field for bronze in the 60-lap race.
“I can’t describe how it feels to win track’s first gold but I feel lucky I had my friend Afiq with me,” said Sea Games debutant Irwandie, who shed tears of joy after crossing the finish line.
“I knew I could beat the Thai in the final sprint. It’s my first medal at the Sea Games so I was bit emotional and happy.
Afiq could not get quickly enough to the front to at least get a consolation bronze but was happy to have helped Irwandie win gold.
Malaysian trio Shariz Efendi Shahrin, Fadhil Zonis and Khairil Nizam Rasol clocked 44.776 seconds to beat Thailand (45.735) in the men’s team sprint final with Indonesia taking bronze ahead of Singapore.
They were just a fraction of a second away from breaking the national record of 44.725 set by Josiah Ng, Azizulhasni Awang and Rizal Tisin at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“The time is the best we have ever done and it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t break the national record,” said Shariz.
Fatehah Mustapha and Farina Shawati Adnan then finished ahead of Indonesia in the women’s team final with a timing of 34.671s, having trailed for the first half of the race with the latter finishing in 35.211s.
The Malaysian pair had set a new national record of 34.140s in the qualifying round.
In the concluding event, Ju Pha Somnet won a bronze in the women’s omnium before Thailand’s Jutatip Maneephan and Singapore’s Luo Yiwei, gold and silver medallists respectively.