Malaysia's Riders Grab Three Silver, Bronze

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's track riders added three silver and a bronze to their overall medal tally at the 32nd Asian Cycling Championship and 19 Asian Junior Cycling Championship at the Kuala Lumpur Velodrome here Friday. The silver were won by Azizulhasni Awang, Fatehah Mustapa and Ummi Hamimah Mohamad in the men's and women's elite sprint and the women's juniors sprint events respectively. The trio of Muhammad Fauzan Nor Azman, Malek Marcus McCrone and Muhammad Asri Suraizi Mat Riadzi bagged the bronze in the team sprint event. Azizulhasni who made a comeback before local fans after a six-year absence was clearly disappointed in not being able to contribute a gold. "There were schedule changes today and I was only informed at the last minute. It threw me off rhythm especially where the pre-race warm up was concerned. I only had 20 minutes to do my warm up, I know as a professional I should have been ready at any moment. "I am really disappointed in not being able to land the gold, more so my family members had turned up in full force to support me and the team," he told reporters afterwards. The men's elite sprint was won by Kazunari Watanabe of Japan while Zhang Lei of China took third place after defeating his brother Zhang Miao. Fatehah also lamented the last minute changes in the schedule in missing out on the gold. "I will try to make amends in the keirin event," she told reporters. Hong Kong's Wai Sze Lee took the gold and Shi Jingjing of China the bronze. Ummi Hamimah, meanwhile, was in tears for not being able to win the gold. The 18-year-old was beaten to the finish line by An Hyeji of South Korea. -- BERNAMA