The girls come riding in numbers

FATEHAH Mustapa used to lament the lack of strong opposition in her home national championships.

The former national cycling champion had to be sent to Melbourne to train with the boys, or rather the seniors Azizulhasni Awang, Josiah Ng and Rizal Tisin.

Melbourne, after all, is where all the cycling action takes place with a local competition every other week.

But that was more than 12 years ago, or as the Chinese say, a complete cycle of the zodiac calendar.

Things could not be more different in 2025. Malaysia is suddenly seeing the emergence of many top women track cyclists.

Paris Olympian Nurul Izzah Izzati has suddenly found herself having to fend off strong competition from back-up cyclist Nurul Alyssa Mohd Farid.

Alyssa, who is only 19, impressed in the just concluded Asean Track Series at the National Velodrome in Nilai with three medals - individual sprint bronze in Series 1, keirin bronze in Series 2 and one silver behind Izzah in the sprint in Series 3.

She also set a new flying 200m personal best, dipping for the first time under 11 seconds, clocking 10.953s.

She is now just over two tenths of a second slower than Izzah and looks set to earn her place in the squad for the Asian Track Cycling Championships in Nilai from Feb 21-27.

Right behind Izzah is Sawda Hasbullah, the younger sister of national sprint cyclist Umar Hasbullah. And she is only 17.

Sawda pulled off a clean sweep of the sprint and keirin titles in the Asean Track Series (1, 2 and 3 combined).

Sawda, who is physically large for her age, has all the attributes to become a top woman sprinter for Malaysia if she continues to focus on polishing up her racing craft.

It is interesting to note that Izzah and Alyssa share similar traits in that they were first moulded by passionate figures in Malaysian cycling. These figures did not hesitate to release them to the national set-up.

Izzah is from Kedah and was first identified by woman coach Noor Alfizar Othman while Alyssa was groomed by Fatehah.

Malaysian National Cycling Federation’s push to bring Frenchman Herman Terryn last year to take charge of developing the back-up juniors looks to be paying off as there is now a whole group of younger cyclists like Alyssa, sisters Yong Ann Tung and Ann Li; and Sawda.

If all goes to plan, Malaysia could even qualify for the women’s team sprint at the Olympics for the first time in Los Angeles in 2028.

But that’s a goal that needs everyone to come together and work without any distractions.

The national cycling body deserve the credit for pushing for the three back-to-back events under the Asean Track Series. For a cyclist to qualify for the world championships, his or her nation needs to host at least one UCI-sanctioned meet a year.

Technical director John Beasley is hoping the Asean Track Series events can grow into something that everyone locks in their planner.

“It’s very important for the development of our riders. We cannot pay for all Malaysian riders to race overseas but we can bring a few races here every year.

“Europeans don’t have the same challenges as Asians. In Europe, travel between countries is cheap.

“European riders can jump on a cheap flight while their mechanics drive their equipment over in vans.

“For Asians, excess baggage on the planes have always been our biggest expense,” he explained.

For Malaysia right now, we don’t have to worry about excess baggage, we can rejoice over the excess in number of young cyclists.