KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Sime Darby Foundation (YSD) awarded national track cycling ace Mohd Azizulhasni Awang RM100,000 for his bronze medal win at the Rio Olympic Games, this morning.
YSD chairman Tun Musa Hitam announced the reward for ‘The Rocket Pocket Man’ who delivered Malaysia’s first Olympic medal for track cycling in the keirin event.
“You did your best and we are very proud of your achievement. Despite the interruption during the final, you never gave up till the very end. Your performance under the circumstances has made you even more deserving of the win. “The whole country rejoices with you. Not forgetting coach John Beasley and the whole team, for the hard work put in, it has paid off and you have made Malaysia proud,” he said in the statement, today.
In a dramatic final, the eight-lap race was restarted twice after technical infringement by the riders and in the third start, Azizulhasni pipped world champion, Joachim Eilers from Germany to finish third.
The 28-year-old Melbourne-based rider crossed the finishing line for the bronze behind defending champion Jason Kenny from Britain and Dutchman Matthijs Buchli.
Azizulhasni, who was earmarked as a gold medal prospect, won the Olympic medal in his third attempt after failing to qualify for the finals in the 2008 Beijing Games and finishing sixth at the 2012 London Games. In 2011, at the London Track World Cup keirin final, Azizulhasni was involved in a crash with three riders and was skewered by a 20cm splinter of Siberian pine from the track.
Despite the incident, he did not give up and recovered to finish third in the race.
Azizulhasni was part of the YSD Track Cycling Team ‘Road to London Olympics 2012’ which was funded by YSD with a sponsorship of RM2 million for three years from 2009 to 2012.
YSD continued with another RM2.85 million sponsorship for Azizulhasni and Fatehah Mustapa under the ‘Road to Rio’ programme. — Bernama
