Track squad set sights on golden outing

PRESSURE is what the national cycling team fear, but there is no reason why that shouldn't be exactly what they must be feeling as they ready themselves for the Guangzhou Asian Games.

It has been 40 years since the legendary Daud Ibrahim and Datuk Ng Joo Ngan delivered Malaysia's last gold medals at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok and the cycling programme now seems light years away from what that dynamic duo had when they delivered their moments in history.

Government investment and corporate interest in areas serving the high performance programme under Australian head coach John Beasley is already at a previously unimaginable high.

The track squad in particular, have their sights on the top spot of the podium in the London Olympics in two years. With the Asiad being one of the two lesser gauges in the build-up towards that, it would only be natural that expectations will be high.

There's no reason not to expect anything less than gold at Asian level, given the fact that the likes of two-time World Championships silver medallist Azizul Hasni Awang and recently crowned Commonwealth Games keirin champion Josiah Ng will be fielded.

The only sore point is the fact that Rizal Tisin's solid build-up towards a 1km time trial gold in Guangzhou had to be aborted two years ago as the event was excluded by the organisers.

But Rizal should play a vital part in the quest for what should be the country's best bet for gold in Guangzhou -- the team sprint combination with Azizul and Josiah. Rizal is also slated for his new events -- the individual and team pursuits.

Given the subjective nature of the role that commissaires could play in the results of the keirin and 200m sprint which Azizul and Josiah will contest, much emphasis has already been put on the team sprint combination to deliver in what would be a clear cut victory by time.

The effect of Azizul's controversial disqualification after winning the keirin at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last month has been serious enough to demand this, given that some of the faces in the commissaires panel in New Delhi are set to officiate again in Guangzhou.

"The team sprint would be a safe gold medal to target and we're setting that as our target although we have reason to believe that our boys could deliver more," said team manager Datuk Naim Mohamad.

Medals will also be expected from Fatehah Mustapa in the women's 500m time trial and 200m sprint, given the fact that she has delivered silver and bronze in those events at three Asian Championships.

"What we can certainly expect is a haul that is better than the single silver that Josiah delivered in the Doha Asian Games four years ago.

"What the team can show is the fact that in those four years, with all the support and funding they have got, we have definitely come to a much higher level," said Naim.

One less expected, but highly possible medal could come from Masziyaton Mohd Radzi, who has gone virtually unnoticed in the build-up to the Asian Games.

She starts the women's cross country mountain bike race on Nov 20 as among a group of eight riders all within touch of a podium position.

Medals are the nature of business in these sorts of meets, and the pressure that comes with them is only because with this entry is a national cycling programme that is the envy of the majority of nations Malaysia will compete against.


Read more: NST/ - By Arnaz M. Khairul