Beasley: Fatehah not ready to win medal at Asian meet

PETALING JAYA: Don’t expect a podium finish from national track cyclist Fatehah Mustapa in the Asian Track Cycling Championship.

The sprinter has not been training since featuring in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

National track cycling coach John Beasley said that with only 12 weeks away for the meet in New Delhi (Feb 6-10) Fatehah will be racing against time to get herself back in top form.

“She has not trained since Rio as I want her to take a break and start afresh. So it’s going to be hard for her to get on the podium in 12 weeks’ time,” said Beasley.

“I would expect a solid performance but I’m not expecting her to step on the podium.”

Fatehah will be heading back to Melbourne on Nov 26 to commence training.

Beasley wants Fatehah to come back stronger and focus in preparing for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games next year.

“So it’s a matter of getting her right for the SEA Games and we’ve got plenty of time to get her back in shape physically,” added the Australian coach.

Beasley, whose contract expires next year, said he prefers working in Malaysia until the next Olympics.

“I’ll be here as long as I can positively contribute and move the programme forward. And when I leave I want to make sure we’ve got strong pillars of support and structure in place to be successful.”