KUALA LUMPUR: National track cycling head coach John Beasley is confident that Azizulhasni Awang has "virtually qualified" for the Paris Olympics.
Beasley said Azizulhasni's keirin victory and fourth-place finish in the sprint at the Adelaide leg of the UCI Nations Cup last week has essentially secured him a ticket to France.
Their qualification status will, however, only be official once the qualification window ends on April 15.
"We are looking incredibly good at the moment," said Beasley when met yesterday.
"Azizulhasni is virtually qualified (for Paris) now and he has almost helped Shah qualify as well, because there are two paths to qualifying in the individual sprint and keirin events.
"I am hoping Shah will do his job at the Delhi Asian Championships (Feb 21-26).
"All we (Shah) need to do is get in the top-four there and we will get great points. That will tick the box and we're off (to Paris).
"We are in a really good position to qualify for Paris because the cyclists' had such a good first year (of qualifying last year)."
Beasley was reluctant to field Azizulhasni in Adelaide as the latter had been suffering from pericarditis, a heart condition, over the last few weeks. Azizulhasni will skip the upcoming Asian meet in Delhi.
The Olympic qualification process in track cycling is more complicated compared to other sports. Only the top-placing athlete from a nation in a qualifying competition earns points for their nation.
The top-seven ranked nations in the keirin or sprint, as of Apr 15, will earn a spot in Paris for that discipline as well as one berth for the opposing discipline.
For example, if a nation qualifies for the keirin they will also secure one berth in the sprint for their nation.
Malaysia is currently ranked third in the keirin rankings, largely thanks to Azizulhasni, with 4,695 points and ninth in the sprint on 3,273.