Natasha aims to sing Negaraku on podium at world meet again.
Fatehah proves herself by winning silver at SEA meet
Fatehah Mustapa virtually disappeared from the radar over the last few months but showed she still has not lost the winning touch by sprinting to silver in the South East Asia Track Championships at the National Velodrome here.
The 30-year-old seasoned campaigner upstaged her younger teammates Farina Shawati Mohd Adnan and Anis Amira Rosidi to go all the way to the women’s sprint event final after beating Hong Kong’s Novanda Kharisma in the two-heat semi-final.
Farina and Anis, who were selected to compete in the Indonesia Asian Games last year ahead of the more illustrious Fatehah, were eliminated in the quarter-finals stage. Then, Fatehah had struggled with her form.
Yesterday, Fatehah was on fire but it was not good enough to get the better of her Indonesian rival Crismonita Dwi Putri, who is 10 years younger than her.
The Terengganu-born cyclist was pretty pleased to earn her first international podium finish of the year – especially when she was under pressure to earn a podium finish in the championship and also the National Track Championships starting Sunday to justify her presence in the national elite set-up.
“I’m really happy today. I did a season best of 11.240 in the sprint qualifying this morning. It’s the fastest I’ve clocked so far this year,” said Fatehah.
“I’ve not gone as fast as this for sometime and hopefully, this will give me more confidence to do what I need to do in the two months before the Asian Cycling Championships in South Korea (in October).
“I have to improve more as I am targeting the Asian championships to show that I am still competitive,” said Fatehah, who returned home to train in Malaysia early this year in order to be close to her ailing father Mustapa Kassim.
The two-time Olympian cyclist and former Asian champion admitted her motivation has been lacking at times but is determined to show she still has what it takes to contribute to Malaysian cycling.
“If it’s not for my family, I would probably not be standing here now. They are the ones who are giving me the most support and I will try to prove to them that I am still a good cyclist,” she added.