SEPANG: Rio de Janeiro Olympics bronze medallist Mohd Azizulhasni Awang has set his sights on the ‘rainbow jersey’ at the 2017 World Cycling Championships in Hong Kong from April 12 to 16.
Azizulhasni, fresh from winning the gold medal in the elite men’s individual sprint event at the Asian Cycling Championship (ACC) in India on Friday, hopes to build on his success by winning in Hong Kong.
“So far, my performance has been good, and God willing, if I’m lucky, I can win the rainbow jersey this year. I have been trying to win the jersey since 2007, maybe with the prayers of all Malaysians, I can win it this year.
“Since the Olympics (in Rio De Janeiro) last year, I feel my performance has improved, but there is much work to be done,” he told reporters after arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here, today.
The rainbow jersey, with white as the base colour and five horizontal stripes in green, yellow, black, red and blue, is awarded to the world champion, and can be used in races throughout the year by the winner.
Azizulhasni has won silver medals at the World Championships through the sprint event in 2009, and keirin event in 2010, while in the 2015 and 2016 editions, he had to settle for bronze in the keirin event.
In the ACC New Delhi, the 28-year-old rider won gold after beating Tomoyuki Kawabata of Japan in the final held at the Indira Gandhi velodrome, making amends for a ninth place finish in the elite men’s keirin event on Tuesday.
“My initial goal was to go home with at least one gold medal, but I was a bit disappointed to miss out in my favourite event, keirin. It’s not that I could not go into the finals or win, but there was a slight technical error during the race, and we’ll learn from the mistake,” he said.
The national team also won two bronze medals through Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom in the elite men’s individual sprint and Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli in the team omnium. Malaysia finished seventh overall in the tournament held from Feb 6 to 10.
Meanwhile, national track cycling head coach John Beasley was delighted with the achievement, saying Azizulhasni and Muhammad Shah Firdaus had shown a marked improvement in their performances.
“I always want more medals but I’m still happy with this achievement. Muhammad Shah is getting better and is ready for bigger challenges,” he said. — Bernama