KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 ― Malaysia will have two track cyclists at the Tokyo Olympics this year after finishing among the top eight best teams in the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) ranking list.
Based on the latest UCI ranking, issued on their website, Malaysia have moved up five spots to fourth place with 4,667.5 points in the men’s sprint event.
The national men’s track cycling team are also through to Tokyo in the keirin event after being placed seventh with 4,503 points.
Based on the UCI format, the top eight countries in the ranking after the recent World Track Cycling Championships in Berlin, Germany qualify for the Olympics.
The world meet was the final qualifiers for the Tokyo Games.
National track cycling ace Mohd Azizulhasni Awang, who contributed the highest number of points ― 2,710 ― in keirin as well accumulating 2,415 points in sprint, is already assured one spot in Tokyo.
The other slot should be a toss-up between Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis as UCI have only set two spots for each country for the Tokyo Games.
So far, 10 other Malaysian athletes have made the cut for the Tokyo Games.
They are artistic gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi; sailors Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (men’s laser standard), Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif (women’s laser radial), Nuraisyah Jamil and Juni Karimah Noor Jamali (women’s international 470); men’s recurve archer Khairul Anuar Mohamad; and women divers Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Wendy Ng Yan Yee (3m springboard), Pandelela Rinong Pamg (10m platform) and her partner in 10m platform synchronised, Leong Mun Yee. ― Bernama
