Mohd Aim rides hard for bronze

2009/11/08

MOHD Aim Mohd Fauzi, 18, delivered Malaysia's first medal at the Asian and Asian Junior Mountain Bike Championships in Malacca yesterday.

Mohd Aim, who had entered the junior downhill event gunning for the gold medal, lost out to Japan's Kazuki Shimizu and Indonesian Hildan Atosma Katana and had to settle for bronze.

It was still the best performance of the day from the Malaysian squad, as the seniors struggled to match the best in the region.

"I'm very disappointed that I didn't win the gold medal. I want to make up for it. I hope I'm selected for the Laos Sea Games squad, so that I can make up for this loss," said Mohd Aim.

The men's elite downhill saw Indonesian Popo Ario Sejati bag the gold medal with an emphatic performance, flying down the course to complete it in a time that was four seconds faster than silver medallist Naoki Idegawa of Japan.

Top Malaysian Jr Stanly Jalip only managed sixth spot, but more is expected from him when he takes on his favoured event, the cross country today.

Results - Downhill - Men - Elite: 1 Popo Ario Sejati (Ina) 2:39.498s, 2 Naoki Idegawa (Jpn) 2:43.617s, 3 Tanaphon Jarupeng (Tha) 2:50.283s, ... 6 Jr Stanly Jalip (Mas) 2:55.575s, 13 Ali Samson Ghazali Hakiki (Mas) 3:05.015s, Mohd Elmi Jumari (Mas) 3:12.006s;

Juniors: 1 Kazuki Shimizu (Jpn) 2:56.011s, 2 Hildan Atosma Katana (Ina) 2:57.320s, 3 Mohd Aim Mohd Fauzi (Mas) 3:05.688s, 4 Norshahriel Ahmad Nazali (Mas) 3:09.871s, ... 7 Mohd Fareez Borhanudin (Mas) 3:28.770s, 13 Leon Harith Abdul Hamid (Mas) 4:39.851s;

Women - Elite: 1 Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 3:01.597s, 2 Risa Suseanty (Ina) 3:16.933s, 3 Aussanee Pradupyard (Tha) 3:29.141s, ... 7 Norsyuhaini Othman (Mas) 4:11.641s, 8 Masziyaton Mohd Radzi (Mas) 4:23.700s;

Juniors: 1 Veepavee Deekaballes (Tha) 3:42.402s, 2 Quyen Bui Thi (Vie) 4:47.868s, 3 Wu Kuan Hui (Tpe) 5:32.783s. -- ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL