KANGAR: Perlis put all their money on Jupha Som Net to deliver two gold medals from cycling at their home Sukma, and the 21-year-old did not disappoint.
In the mass start 123km women’s road race on Monday, Jupha put on a calculated ride to win the gold medal in 3’31:49. She pipped Terengganu’s Ummi Hamimah Mohd, who grabbed the silver medal, at the finish line in the bunch finish. Ummi’s team-mate Nur Aisyah Mohd Zubir finshed third for the bronze medal. All were credited with the same time.
On Sunday, Jupha delivered Perlis’ first gold medal in cycling after winning the criterium. While the criterium was more of a sprinting show, the distance of the race on Monday put some pressure on Jupha as she is now with the national track cycling team.
“It may have looked easy, but it wasn’t actually. I had to race smart and gauge my effort well because I was left with no team-mates close to the finish.
“I knew Terengganu were going for it but they too were being cautious. When it was just five kilometres to the finish, I knew it was going to finish in a bunch,” said Jupha.
A flurry of attacks went off in the race but as those attacks were destined for doom with Terengganu, Federal Territories and Perlis doing the work reeling them in, Jupha paid close attention to Ummi.
“I didn’t feel good at first because it has been two months since I trained on the roads. My focus with the national team now is solely on the tracks,” said Jupha, who will feature in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.
Meanwhile, Terengganu grabbed the team gold medal with three of their riders (Ummi, Nur Aisyah and Nurul Najihah Inani) finishing ahead of Kedah (Mardiana Mohd Radzi, Nurjeha Iwani Roslan and Siti Fatimah Ismail), who won the silver. Pahang (Nurul Nadia Mohd Fauzi, Nursyazwana Ismail and Siti Aisyah Alias) took home the bronze medal.
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