Thai Jai shocks Azizulhasni
in retirement, Josiah Ng still haunts former world keirin champion Azizulhasni Awang.
Yesterday, Josiah, who is Thailand’s cycling coach, turned his rider Jai Angsuthasawit into an Asian Games champion in the men’s keirin, relegating Azizulhasni to third place.
Jai, who reached the final through the repechage, won the photo finish final with Japan’s Yudai Nitta taking silver.
“Before the race, I did joke with Josiah to instruct Jai to follow me closely if he wanted to win silver, but the reverse happened,” said Azizuhasni.
“Josiah and I are among the best tactical specialists in keirin. And it is obvious that Josiah has trained Jai well as the rider is now tactically strong.
“I am heartbroken because I was confident of winning gold. I reserved my energy for the final race, but I could not deliver.”
Azizul, known as ‘The Pocket Rocketman’, could not outwit his rivals as he was pinned between Jai and Nitta in the final lap.
“At the last turn, I did not have enough space to sprint, and if I had acted aggressively, I could have been suspended.”
For Josiah, it is a dream come true as this is his first Games outing as a coach.
He won medals in four previous outings, representing Malaysia at the Games.
“It is something out of this world as I have only been Jai’s coach for seven months. I was only hoping for a medal today from my cyclist.
“It was the same situation 10 years ago when an unknown Azizulhasni then won gold.
“Without facilities and proper support such as sports science, I am happy that we managed to beat one of the Asian giants in cycling,” said Josiah.
Josiah added: “There is no secret behind success... just proper planning and hard work.”
Jai, who is of Thai-Australian parentage, was understandably delighted with his gold medal.
“I don’t know what to say. I was in a good position and I seized the right timing to win the gold.
“I thank Josiah for his support. He is a good coach and is very strict during training,” said the 23-year-old.
Jai was a member of Australia’s sprint team in 2013 but was dropped after a few years after failing to perform.
“I was training on my own for two years before Thailand invited me to join their team,” he added.