ASIAN CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012

Tinkering with the schedule at the last minute dented Malaysia’s hopes of grabbing at least another gold in the elite ranks of the Asian Cycling Championships at the Cheras Velodrome yesterday.

Melbourne-based track cyclists Azizulhasni Awang and Fatehah Mustapa could not turn on the speed they needed to put up a strong challenge in the men’s and women’s sprint finals respectively due to a lack of proper warm-up and had to settle for silver medals.

The Malaysian cyclists were caught off-guard by the organisers’ move to hold all the prize-giving ceremonies for all finals only after all the day’s competitions had been completed.

Sporting act: Malaysia’s Fatehah Mustapa (right) congratulating Hong Kong’s Lee Wai Sze for winning the women’s elite sprint gold Friday.

So the track competition started in the morning as the organisers wanted to wrap everything up before 1pm.

Azizul, who impressed by beating Guangzhou Asian Games sprint gold medallist Zhang Lei in the semi-finals on Thursday, did not perform to his best ability against Japan’s Kazunari Watabane in the final.

Fatehah failed to match the powerful Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong, who went on to grab her second gold medal after winning the 500m time trial on Thursday.

Azizul, who last won the sprint title at the Asian meet in 2009, felt he could have done better if he had more time to warm up.

“I beat Zhang Lei yesterday and I thought to myself this morning, there was a good chance of me regaining the sprint gold medal,” he said.

“But I arrived in the morning and found out that we had to do the sprint immediately after the points race for the juniors had finished.

“I did not warm up properly while my rival had already warmed up as he did the team sprint for Japan earlier.”

Kazunari raced in the Japan team sprint trio who were beaten by China to the gold earlier in the morning.

“The schedule has been changing since the first day and I’m unhappy that I could not give my best for the country, the fans and also my family members who came to see me race on homeground after so long.

“But as a professional athlete, I have to acccept the outcome.

“My performance is not bad as I made the sprint final and I’ll see what I can do for the keirin next,” said Azizul, who only returned to action in November after a long lay-off due to a horrific calf injury suffered in the World Cup in Manchester last February.

Fatehah, making her first ever appearance in the sprint final, said her legs were heavy but admitted Wai Sze was the better cyclist.

“But I am very frustrated I did not get to put up a stronger fight.

“The organisers are not professional for changing the schedule just like that. How do they expect us to win medals for the country under this situation?” said Fatehah, who has a chance to make amends in the keirin starting today.

Source :Thestar