PETALING JAYA: A place in the Beijing Olympics beckons for Malaysia's Azizul Hasni Awang after an impressive ride in the keirin competition of the Track World Championships in Manchester on Saturday.
Azizul beat a classy field of world championships medallists, including Australia's Shane Perkins and the defending champion Theo Bos of Holland, to win the first round heat for automatic qualification to the second round.
He failed to become the first Malaysian to make it to the keirin final of the world championships but an 11th ranked finish virtually assured him of a place in the Olympic competition in August.
The other Malaysian riders, Josiah Ng and Rizal Tisin, failed to make it past the first round.
Josiah's charge to join Azizul was undone when he was hit from behind by French rider Mickael Bourgain. Despite the setback, Josiah should have enough ranking points to make a second consecutive appearance in the Olympics.
Azizul's performance comes hot on the heels of a strong performance in the 200m sprint on Friday. The 19-year-old set a new national record of 10.160 in qualifying 11th fastest for the knockout rounds.
Azizul lost the one-off ride against Ukrainian Andriy Vynokurov in the second round. But he can take heart in that he not just improved on his previous national mark of 10.385, set in the World Cup last month, but also the Asian record of 10.191 clocked by Japan's Kazunari Watanabe in 2005.
Josiah also went under the national mark with a flying lap of 10.352 but was placed 25th and again missed the knockout stages.
After the disappointing start to Malaysia's campaign in the team sprint earlier, team manager Datuk Naim Mohamad said Azizul looked good to win an Olympic berth.
In the team sprint, Malaysia only needed to stay above the United States, Greece and Poland to confirm their place in the Beijing Games but the trio of Mohd Edrus Yunus, Josiah and Azizul ended last in a field of 15 teams.
“Edrus was the lead rider and his concentration was shaken when the Greek rider slipped at the start of the race and he did not post a good time.” said Naim in a telephone interview from Manchester.
“I think we should still be able to qualify Olympic team sprint if we stay among the top 12. But we have to wait for the confirmation from UCI (world body) after they finalise the new list by April 14.
“Azizul looks good to join Josiah for the keirin because he should break into the top 15. Azizul would have qualified for the Olympics in the 200m sprint if he had reached the quarter-finals but we will have to wait for the new rankings to see where he stands.
“Azizul impressed many with his speed even though he was competing for the first time in the keirin.’’
The Terengganu-born cyclist earned direct qualification for the world championships by virtue of winning the Asian title in Bangkok last year.
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