Bad debuts for Azizulhasni and Josiah at new Olympic venue
PETALING JAYA: Top Malaysian cyclists Azizulhasni Awang and Josiah Ng will surely be praying for better luck in their return visit to the newlybuilt London Velodrome when the Olympics rolls by in July.
The duo raced in their pet keirin event at the World Cup leg in London on Saturday but missed out on their objective of reaching the final under different circumstances.
An unwell Azizulhasni Awang scraped into the second round but the luck of the draw pitted him against heavyweights Chris Hoy of Britain, Rene Enders of Germany, Christos Volikakis of Greece, Teun Mulder of Holland and Hoy’s countryman Matthew Crampton, who rides for the pro outfit, Sky Team.
The 24-year-old was out-paced by Hoy, Mulder and Enders at the last bend. Azizul managed to get eighth placing in the running for the seventh to 12th spot.
Azizul had to fight to win the repechage after coming in second behind Mulder in the first round heat.
The winners of all six first round heat qualified automatically for the second round where they were to be joined by six more from the repechage.
The top three riders from the two second round heats then progressed to the final and Josiah, who won his first Asian championships gold medal just a week ago, exited the World Cup earlier.
Josiah finished third in his first round heat and did not complete the repechage after he got entangled with Ireland’s Eoin Mullen on the final lap.
Triple Olympic champion Hoy charged his way from behind the leading pack to win the keirin gold medal in the World Cup, which doubles up as the Olympic test event, as a sell-out crowd roared their approval.
It was the first time in three years that Azizul ended a World Cup campaign without a podium finish since he announced his arrival on the international stage with a spectacular victory in the Melbourne leg in 2009.
Azizul, who has since collected four gold medals, suffered a horrific calf injury in the final leg of the World Cup in Manchester last February and only got back on the saddle in November.
Azizul is still trying to discover the form that saw him win silver in two successive World Championships in 2009 and 2010 but track team manager Datuk Naim Mohamad believes the rider is on the right track as far as preparations for the Olympics are concerned.
“We want them to peak nicely when they return to London by July as we want the one who is fielded to take a shot at striking gold.
“Azizul did not show his true potential when he competed at the Asian championships recently (where he finished with two silvers in sprint and keirin) and at the World Cup but he is showing progress each time he rides.
“He fought a hard race here when he was not feeling well. The hot racing climate conditions in Kuala Lumpurand immediately coming into a cold London affected his health.
“He was also unlucky to be in the tougher second round heat.
“He had to fight it out with the top two British riders, Mulder (former world champion) and Enders (the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist),” said Naim from London.
Azizul’s eighth place finish saw Malaysia consolidate their position in the overall nation ranking in keirin for the Olympics as the best Asian country.
Malaysia are currently ranked fifth behind Australia, Britain, France and New Zealand.
The next closest Asian country is Japan, ranked eighth behind Germany and Holland.
A nation can only enter one rider for each individual discipline at the Olympics and only the top two Asian countries will qualify this time.
Fatehah Mustapa was 24th in the women’s sprint despite clocking a personal season best of 11.571 and failed to make it to the knockout rounds.
Mohd Edrus Yunos was 18th in the men’s 1km time trial with a time of 1:06.289.