HANGZHOU – The national track cycling camp bagged two bronze medals in the men’s and women’s team sprint events in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games at the Chun’an Jieshou Sports Centre Velodrome today.
All eyes, however, were fixed on the national women’s trio of Nurul Aliana Syafika Azizan, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri and Anis Amira Rosidi, as they delivered Malaysia’s first medal in the event since it was introduced at the 2014 edition in Incheon, South Korea.
In the bronze medal race, the national trio clocked 49.025 seconds to defeat Taiwan’s trio of Hsiao Mei-yu, Wang Tzu-chun and Chen Ching-yun, who clocked 50.344s.
China captured gold through Guo Yufang, Bao Shanju and Yuan Liying, who broke the Asian and Games record by clocking 46.376s, defeating the South Korean team of Hwang Hyeonseo, Kim Haeun and Cho Sunyoung, who were timed at 50.012s.
The previous Asian record of 46.466 and the Games mark of 46.900s were held by China.
Meanwhile, the national men’s trio of Umar Hasbullah, Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom and Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis also did well to clock 44.165s in the bronze medal race against Taiwan’s Yang Sheng-Kai, Kang Shih-Feng and Hsiao Shih-Hsin, who clocked 44.276s.
The Malaysian team clearly felt the absence of track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang as they failed to defend the silver they won in the 2018 edition in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia.
Japan, featuring Yoshitaku Nagasako, Kaiya Ota and Yuta Obara, powered to the gold medal in 42.934s, a new Games record, while China, comprising Guo Shuai, Zhou Yu and Liu Qi, settled for silver in 42.968s. – September 23, 2023