NILAI, Aug 22 — The national para-cycling squad had an outstanding say as it won seven of eight gold medals on offer at the 2019 South East Asia Track Cup Grand Prix & 2019 Malaysian Para Track 1 championships at the National Velodrome today.
The seven gold medals were won through the men’s 1km time trials for the C1, C3, C4, and C5 categories, and men’s 1 km time trial for category B, as well as the women’s 500m time trial for the C3 category and women’s 1km time trial for category B.
Mohd Yusuf Hafizi Shahruddin emerged the country’s first medal contributor in the men’s 1km time trial for the C1 category after clocking in at 1 minute 17.986 seconds, followed by Muhammad Adi Raimie Amizazahan (men’s 1km time trial C3), Mohd Najib Turano (men’s 1km time trial C4) and Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi (men’s 1km time trial C5).
Mohd Afiq Afify Rizan and pilot Mohd Faizal Mohamed Noh also bagged a gold medal in the men’s blind tandem (category B) time trial, finishing with 1:03.867s.
Nur Faizah Aziz clocked in at 28.409s to win the 500m women’s time trial (C3) and Nur Suraiya Muhammad Zamri and Nurul Suhada Zainal finished triumphantly in the women’s category B time trial with 1:15.884s
Indonesia won their only gold medal in the men’s 1km time trial for the C2 through Habib Shaleh, with Malaysia not participating in the event.
National para-cycling head coach Salehuddin Mohd Noh when met said he hoped that besides winning gold medals, the national riders could also rack up enough points to earn more slots for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
He also hoped that history could be made with the women’s riders earning a slot to the Tokyo Paralympic Games, as Malaysia has never won a slot in the category. — Bernama
