AZIZULHASNI Awang is on track to retaining his gold medal in the men’s individual sprint at the Asian Track Cycling Championships after easing into the last four in South Korea yesterday.
The Terengganu-born finished fourth in qualifying on a solid 9.977s while Shah Firdaus Sahrom (sixth — 10.159) and Fadhil Zonis (16th — 10.338) also made the top-16 cut at the Jincheon National Training Centre Velodrome.
In the round-of-16, Azizulhasni dispatched Taiwan’s Kang Shih Feng while Shah defeated Thailand's Jai Angsuthasawit to progress. Fadhil, who took silver in the 1km time trial on Saturday, however, lost to Japan’s Tomohiro Fukaya.
Azizulhasni and Shah then booked their spots for today’s semi-finals by downing India’s E. Esow and China’s Xu Chao in their respective quarterfinal races.
In the para competition, Afiq Afify Rizan and pilot Khairul Adha Rasol clinched gold in the men’s tandem sprint (B) event after overcoming Japan’s Kazuhei Kimura-Takuto Kurabayashi on Saturday.
Khairul Hazwan Wahab-Faizal Noh took third after downing South Korea’s Kim Jungbeen-Kong Minwoo in the classification race.
It was Afiq-Khairul's second gold of the competition after winning the 1km time trial title on Thursday.
Nur Suraiya Zamri-Nurul Suhada Zainal won the women’s tandem (B) gold ahead of Japan’s Noa Yamaguchi-Sakura Yamamoto and Korea's Shin Hyunjung.