Sarawak Sukma cycling coach Dzulkaflee Hassan is left speechless by the collapse of the state cyclists in the women’s criterium event Sunday.
During the event which was held at Felda Chuping, the fastest Sarawakian in the race Aina Zafirah Ahmad only managed a seventh place finishing, clocking an official timing of 1 hour, 28 minutes and 28 seconds (01:28:28.11).
She was 1 minute 24 seconds behind Perlis’ Jupha Som Net who won the gold for the event, finishing with an time of 01:27:04.25.
The silver and bronze medals went to Terengganu’s Umi Hamimah Mohamad and Pahang’s Nurul Nadia Ahmad Fauzi respectively.
Three other Sarawakians also competed in the race namely Nur Aezlin Abdullah, Nur Azrenna Ahmad Jumry and Norisma Azemah.
According to Dzulkaflee, he was disappointed that all the team’s preparations for the games went down to the drain and he was shocked.
“We have done everything and we still failed. I know my cyclists don’t deserve this,” he added.
Before the games in Perlis, the state team endured months of training in Peninsular Malaysia before competing in the Sukma games in Perlis this year.
With two more events to be held today, the state cycling team have won only two bronze medals so far despite targeting at least one gold medal before the games.