Cycling

Azizul bags two silver in MNCF President Cup

NILAI: Rider Azizulhasni Awang continued his remarkable return from heart surgery with two silver medals in the MNCF President Cup today.

The Olympic silver medallist undergone surgery to correct a coronary artery anomaly in Australia in April, and after seven months of being on the mend, has started his bid to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Azizul, 34, competing for the first time on home soil since his surgery, finished second behind New Zealand's Sam Dakin in the men's elite keirin final at the National Velodrome in Nilai today. He also finished runner-up behind Dakin in Race 1 on Tuesday.

Azizul said: "I changed my tactics in the final, I tried to do a long sprint and it's part of my training coming back to competitive racing.

"I thought I'd cross the line first but Sam was drafting behind me from the start and had more energy to pip me for the win in the last five metres.

"Overall I'm happy with my performance and props to Sam and our youth rider Akmal (Nazimi Jusena) for beating national rider Fadhil (Zonis) for the bronze.

"It's good to have competitions like this and have our youngsters doing well."

Azizul made his return to competitive cycling at the UCI Track Champions League in November, and he was ranked eighth overall from 18 riders.

RESULTS

Men

Keirin final: 1 Sam Dakin (Nzl), 2 Azizulhasni Awang (Mas), 3 Akmal Nazimi Jusena (Mas).

Sprint

Gold: Sam Dakin (Nzl) bt Shah Firdaus Sahrom (Mas) 2-0.

Bronze: Ridwan Sahrom (Mas) bt Fadhil Zonis (Mas) 2-0.

Omnium: 1 Aliyas Abdul Azim (Mas) 156, 2 Benjamin Bernard (Ina) 149, 3 Mow Chin Yin (Hkg) 147.

Women

Keirin final: 1 Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri (Mas), 2 Anis Amira Rosidi (Mas), 3 Ching Yin Shan (Hkg).

Sprint

Gold: Anis Amira Rosidi (Mas) bt Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri (Mas) 2-0.

Bronze: Yeung Cho Yiu (Hkg) bt Ching Yin Shan (Hkg) 2-0.

Omnium: 1 Lee Sze Wing (Hkg) 152, 2 Leung Bo Yee (Hkg) 135, 3 Nur Aisyah Mohd Zubir (Mas) 121.

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