Sabah road warriors
Newbies put on stunning show at national cycling meet
PETALING JAYA: Sabah cyclists, especially Waldron Chee and Lim Chun Kiat, are set to hog the limelight at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Johor next April – going by their recent superb display.
Waldron rode to a stunning gold medal for Sabah in the boys’ junior individual time trial event at the National Road Cycling Championships in Melaka last weekend.
Waldron completed the 30km challenge in 40:57.993 to beat Terengganu’s Kee Zhe Yie (43:12.711) and Abdul Azim Aliyas of Negri Sembilan (43:31.638).
Lim Chun Kiat also rode his heart out to hand Sabah a bronze in the men’s Under-23 individual time trial clocking 1’00:55.337.
Team Sapura Cycling riders Mohd Saari Amri and Mohd Shaiful Adlan came out first (59:58.868) and second (1’00:41.716).
Waldron and Chun Kiat combined with Bong Yong Xian to give Sabah a bronze in the men’s elite team time trial event. The trio finished the 75km distance in 1’45:35.813 behind Police team led by national cyclist Fauzan Lufti (1’40:36.193).
Team Sapura Cycling spearheaded by national cyclist Nur Aiman Rosli won the race in 1’35:31.706.
Sabah team coach Louis Pang described the one gold and two bronzes haul as a historical achievement.
They are the first medals won by Sabah in the national road championships, an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that the cyclists had to move to west Malaysia to train at the National Velodrome in Nilai because there is no velodrome back home.
The Sabah team are relatively new on the cycling scene and were only set up less than three years ago under the Sabah State Sports Council and private sponsors.
“There were talks that Sabah were only good on the track but we proved otherwise in the first local competition,” said Louis.
“We only found out less than three weeks ago there was going to be a national championships taking place and that was all the time we had to prepare.
“We were a bunch of college students going up against national cyclists and professionals from Team Sapura and TSG Cycling Team from Terengganu.
“Despite this, we still managed an outstanding medal-to-rider ratio with only four cyclists in the fray.”
Louis is optimistic of their chances in Sukma next year.
“Waldron will be a medal contender on the track and road now that he has managed to win a gold in the individual time trial,” he said.
“Chun Kiat also has a good chance to win gold as the other two finishers in front of him are not eligible to ride in Sukma next year.
“My advice to them is to work harder and train smartly in order to overcome the challenges ahead.”