Bruised hopes
Sprint team suffer setback after Fadhil’s training injury
PETALING JAYA: Mohd Fadhil Zonis crashed at high speed on the last day of training at the National
Velodrome in Nilai and is in a race against time to get back on the saddle for the Asian
Cycling Championships starting on Wednesday in Jakarta.
Fadhil had bruises after the slip on the timber flooring on
Saturday, but thankfully, did not suffer any broken bones.
The unfortunate incident, however, is a worry to the Malaysian camp who are looking to fight for gold in the men’s elite team sprint.
Fadhil, Muhd Shah
Firdaus Sahrom and Azizulhasni Awang
(pic) should fancy their chances against the
Japanese, Chinese and South Korean rivals in the team sprint after winning silver at the Asian Games in Indonesia last year.
The silver was a first ever for Malaysia in the team sprint, and the trio also broke the 10-year national record set by Azizul, Josiah Ng and Rizal Tisin at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
“His limbs are swollen and he lost a lot of skin, but luckily, no bones were broken,” said Malaysian track coach John Beasley.
“Fadhil is not going to sleep well because of the pain when he rolls over.
“I’m not sure how it’s going to affect the team sprint as we will only know until the competition starts. We’ll just have to hope for the best.”
The team already arrived in Jakarta and had a training session at the venue where Azizul struck gold in the men’s individual sprint at the Asian Games last August.
Hopes are on Azizul to finish on top of the podium at the Asian meet.
He entered the sprint final last year but settled for silver after he lost to Japan’s Kazunari Watanabe.
In the keirin, Azizul grabbed bronze behind Japan’s Tomoyuki Kawabata and South Korea’s Im Chae-bin.
Malaysia are sending a squad of 53 cyclists including the para cyclists.