FADHIL BAGS GOLD
Selangor-born wins Delhi leg of the Track Asia Cup
HE was way from his best but it was still enough for Mohd Fadhil Zonis to clinch gold in the men’s 1km time trial at the Delhi leg of the Track Asia Cup yesterday.
The Selangor-born emerged victorious in 1: 4.028 seconds in India, a sedentary pace by his standards. Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Alkhuwaytim (1:05.858) and Sahil Kumar (1:06.645) of India came in second and third.
Fadhil said he is hoping his win will strengthen his chances of making the cut for the Asian Cycling Championships (ACC) squad next year. The ACC event will be held at the National Velodrom in Nilai in February.
“I am satisfied with the result as I had taken some time off after the Sea Games and had not really done much specialised training for this event,” said the 19-yearold, when contacted.
“My main goal here (in Delhi) is to collect points to qualify for the UCI track World Cup series which starts in November.
“I am also hoping to make the ACC team but we will have to see how that goes as there is only one slot for this time trial event.”
Fadhil made headlines during the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August when came close to breaking the national record en route to the 1km time trial gold.
He clocked 1:01.889 seconds to win the gold in Nilai, only slightly off the 1:01.658s national record set by Rizal Tisin in 2009.
Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, who finished second to Fadhil at KL2017, has also said he would consider racing in the same discipline at ACC and the Commonwealth Games next year.