Pocket Rocketman Azizulhasni May Have Company At Tokyo Olympics

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Winning a gold medal at the 2020 Asian Track Cycling Championship (ACC) in South Korea recently, has given the national track cycling team a chance to claim two slots in the sprint and keirin event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It was good news for Mohd Azizulhasni Awang as he will not be alone competing at the prestigious Games and at the same time, it would also be a dream come true for Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom in making his debut in the Olympics. "If two are going to the Olympics, it would give some exposure for Shah Firdaus. At least, I will have someone to accompany me during training and also at the Olympics," said the 31-year-old Mohd Azizulhasni, adding that if he gets a slot in the keirin event, he automatically gets a 'free' slot in the sprint event and vice versa. "What's important is that many points are offered in sprint events and by winning a gold medal, it does give me hope of qualifying for two events at the Olympics. "If I qualify for keirin, I will automatically get one slot for the sprint. And if I qualify for sprint, (another slot) we can give it to the other rider. As for now, Shah Firdaus seems to excel in sprint event. If I officially qualify for the sprint, we would definitely give it to him," he said. According to the latest International Cycling Union (UCI) rankings for the keirin event, Mohd Azizulhasni stands in third place with 2,625 points, while Japan's Yudai Nitta remained on top with 2,850 points, while in the sprint event, he surged three rungs to 16th place with 1,547 points, while Muhammad Shah Firdaus was 24th with 1,357 points. In the ACC held at the Jingcheon National Training Center Velodrome, the Dungun-born rider won the gold medal after defeating Japanese rider Yuta Wakimoto 2-1 in the final of the men's individual sprint event and he also claimed a silver in the men's keirin event. The other Malaysian riders contributing the medals were Mohd Fadhil Zonis who won a silver medal in the men's one-kilometre time trial event while Fatehah Mustapa won two bronze in the women's 500-metre time trial and women's team sprint, partnering with Anis Amira Rosidi. Based on the Tokyo Olympics qualifying rules issued by UCI, for team sprint events, the top eight teams in the Olympics rankings regardless of the continent will qualify automatically as well as earns two extra tickets for individual keirin and sprint. Besides from qualifying for the team qualifiers, the seven best riders for individual keirin and sprint (minus eight countries which qualified through team sprint event) would also qualify for Tokyo by individual ticket. -- BERNAMA