30 Azizulhasni Awang

The Pocket Rocket man

You may remember track cyclist Azizulhasni Awang for his unfortunate incident at the Manchester Velodrome – gruesome images of him lying in agony on the floor with a splinter planted in his calf like a skewer. Fortuitously for him, the 2011 injury didn’t lead to serious ramifications and he made a swift return onto the saddle.

His passion for cycling budded after witnessing his brother join a BMX team as a child. “After obtaining good results in UPSR, I got a second-hand bike from my dad,” Azizulhasni recounts his humble beginning. It proved to be a masterstroke. Last year, he reached the pinnacle in keirin when he became the world champion. In Jakarta this year, he became the first Malaysian to win a cycling gold medal in men’s sprint at the Asian Games. “It was unexpected,” says the athlete who is based in Melbourne, together with his wife and two daughters. “But it meant a lot to me.”

He trains eight hours a day, spending time in the gym in the morning and on the track in the afternoon. Even when he is back in Malaysia to meet sponsors and visit his family in Terengganu, he still clocks in a few hours at the National Velodrome in Nilai. He knows well he can’t afford to rest on his laurels with the 2020 Summer Olympics fast approaching. “My midterm goal is to focus on Tokyo 2020 with the mission to bring back the first-ever gold medal for our country.”