A must-win situation for Azizul and Co in South Korea
PETALING JAYA: There are no buts about it – Azizulhasni Awang and Co have to bag gold at the Asian Track Cycling Championships to keep their hopes of Olympic Games qualification alive.
Azizul, the 2017 world keirin champion, believes that Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Mohd Fadhil Zonis have what it takes to book tickets to the next year’s the Tokyo Games but stresses the importance of taking maximum points from the Asian meet.
The 2020 edition of the Asian championships in Seoul have been brought forward to Oct 17-21 this year because of the Olympic qualification timeline.
“The chances are there (for us to qualify) but everyone needs to work really hard this season,” said Azizul.
“If we want to qualify, we have to win gold to make our chances better.
“We also have to finish among the top eight in at least two or three legs of the UCI Track World Cup Series later this year.
“But what is most important is to get the Asian Championships gold as it gives us double qualification points.
“In terms of training and commitment, both of them (Fadhil and Shah) are very determined. They want to go to their first Olympics and I will try my best to help them achieve that,” said Azizul, who is the brand ambassador for CIMB Group.
Malaysia are currently ranked 14th in the qualifying rankings for the men’s team sprint with 2,317.5 points.
Only the top eight ranked nations at the end of the qualifying period (March 2020) qualify for Tokyo.
The trio did well to win a silver medal at the Indonesia Asian Games last year.
They also bagged bronze in the same event at the 2019 edition of the Asian Championships in Jakarta in February.
The last time Malaysia competed in the team sprint was in Beijing 2008 when Azizulhasni, Josiah Ng and Rizal Tisin finished seventh.
Azizulhasni, who enjoyed a strong start to the Olympic qualifying by winning a bronze and silver at the Berlin and London legs of the World Cup series last year, is more relaxed about his chances in the keirin and individual sprint.
“I’m happy with my performance last season and the objective this year is to maintain my level of performance.
“There is less stress on me in terms of qualifying because I did well in the first phase of qualifying. I’m in a comfortable position for the individual events and now I want to plan my progress to peak at the Olympics.
“The focus is on our training blocks. I aim to add another two kilos of muscle by June,” he added.
The 31-year-old, who now weighs 73kg, is only planning to race in two or three legs of the 2020 Track World Cup Series (six in total), which begins in November.
After that, he will focus on preparing for the World Track Championships, which will be held in Berlin (February).
Azizulhasni returned from his training base in Melbourne to join Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to take part in the third edition of the CIMB Cycle event in Putrajaya yesterday.
About 3,700 riders from 26 countries took part in the ride, a 250 per cent increase from the first edition.