KUALA LUMPUR: After the success of winning two gold medals at the 2017 Asean Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, national para cyclist, Muhammad Afiq Afify Rizan (Afify) and his pilot, Muhammad Khairul Adha Rasol, now have the daunting task of winning a medal at the Commonwealth Para Games in Gold Coast Australia, which takes place from April 5 to 8.
Preparation wise, Afify and his pilot have been undergoing intensive training under national para cycling coach Mohd Johari Nayan at the National Velodrome in Nilai, the Paralympic Sports Complex in Kampung Pandan and Putrajaya to ensure that not only does he get up on the podium during the Commonwealth Games but also qualifies for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
For a start this year, Both Afify and Khairul Adha will take part in the Asia Para Track Cycling Championship (2018 ACC) at the National Velodrome in Nilai from February 16 to 20, and the 2018 UCI World Para Track Championship in Rio De Janeiro in March.
In fact when contacted, coach Mohd Johari said that even though they have not set any real target, he is confident that the Afify and Mohd Johari pairing will be able to deliver a podium finish in the track event at 2018 ACC and in Rio because they are currently ranked World No 6.
"Winning at the 2018 ACC in Nilai and the World Championship in Rio is very important to enable them to collect as much points as possible to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics.
"Their participation in the 2018 ACC and the World Championship is also very important to enable us to gauge their true capabilities and performance before they take part in the Commonwealth Games,” he said when contacted here earlier today.
During the 2017 Asean Para Games, Afify pulled off an upset when he won two golds in the 1 kilemeter time trial and sprint events, which enabled the blind para cyclist to be listed under the Podium Programme managed by the National Sports Institute (NSI) for this year.
In other developments, Mohd Johari also confirmed that Malaysia are not planning on sending national cyclists for the 2018 Asia highway Para Cycling Championship in Myanmar from February 6 to 12 because it does not offer any point for qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.
Following this, Mohd Johari said that they hope all the national para cyclists will be able to focus completely on 2018 ACC in Nilai and the World Championships so that they can achieve podium finishes and accumulate as much points as possible for the Tokyo Paralympics.