Shah denied by ‘stupid tactic’

track cycling head coach John Beasley is irked by the tactic of a rival rider which forced Shah Firdaus Sahrom out of contention in the Asian Track Cycling Championships (ACC) in New Delhi on Sunday.

Shah was drawn fifth behind the derny in his men's keirin second round heat.

Bizarrely, the third rider, Kazakhstan's Andrey Chugay, did not respond when lead rider Li Zhiwei (China) made an early move, leaving a large gap that those behind him could not close down.

Zhiwei went on to win the heat with Shah's younger brother Ridwan, drawn second behind the derny, taking the second spot. Only the top two qualified for the final and Shah, who placed fourth, subsequently missed the cut.

Beasley could not hide his displeasure when asked to comment on the race.

"Shah raced well, though, both he and the Japanese rider (Yuta Obara) were taken out of the race by the Kazakhstan rider," said Beasley when contacted in Delhi yesterday.

"He (Chugay) left a massive gap and just raced Shah and Obara, in the mean time, the Chinese rider saw what was happening and went for the finish line.

"That left Shah and Obara effectively taken out of the race by a rider's stupid tactics.

"Remember this (also) happened in the Asian Games keirin final, it is the same rider. He has done this twice now.

"(We are) not happy as he ruined the race for two good keirin riders, and have no idea why he races this way."

A similar situation had occurred during the Hangzhou Asian Games keirin final last year which was won by another China rider, Zhou Yu.

South Korea's Kang Seo-jun and Shah settled for silver and bronze at the Asiad.

With Azizulhasni Awang skipping the tournament, hopes of a medal in the ACC keirin rested on Shah's shoulders and his bronze medal feat in the individual sprint event last week indicated that he was in good form.

Meanwhile, Izzah Izzati Asri (pic) capped her ACC campaign on a high note when she recaptured the women's 500-metre time trial gold yesterday.

Izzah clocked 34.388 seconds to emerge victorious at the Indira Gandhi Velodrome. South Korea's Hwang Hyeon Seo came in second (34.802s) while China's Luo Shuyan (34.958s) completed the podium.

It was Izzah's fourth medal of the competition after earlier winning the keirin gold, team sprint silver and individual sprint bronze.