Calamity Jo out of world track meet

National track cyclist Josiah Ng (right) will miss the World Track Championships in Colombia in February as he recovers from a bad crash at a world cup meet in Mexico early this month. - Filepic

PETALING JAYA: Josiah Ng’s jinx with the Track World Championships continues and the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) will be on a wing and prayer that their most experienced cyclist in the national elite team will be back at his best for next year’s Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Josiah has been ruled out of the world meet in Cali, Colombian, in February as he has yet to recover from injuries. He suffered a horrible crash in his second round keirin heat in the second leg of the Track World Cup in Aguascalientes, Mexico, earlier this month. The crash knocked him unconscious and he had to be hospitalised in Mexico for a week before being flown back to the national elite team’s training base in Melbourne.

“Josiah was in induced coma when he was brought to the hospital. He suffered two broken ribs, a punctured lung and broke his right collarbone. Because of the punctured lung, Josiah needs a longer rest before he can travel again for competition,” said MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad.

“It will be take him a couple of months to recover. He is always unlucky when it comes to the World Championships.

“Our hope is that he will recover and start getting back into shape by the middle of the year as he needs to prepare for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (in July) and Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea (in September). On top of that, we also need him for the Rio Olympic qualifying campaign,” added Naim.

At the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi four years ago, Josiah won the gold after team-mate Azizulhasni Awang, who initially won the race, was relegated to last for a technical infringement.

But Azizul turned the tables at the Asian Games in Guangzhou the following month when he beat Josiah in the keirin race to end Malaysia’s 26-year-old cycling gold drought.

For the Cali world meet, Azizul will fly the Malaysian flag in keirin and sprint in Josiah’s absence. Malaysia will also have Jupha Sommet making the grade in the women’s scratch while Fatehah Mustapa will feature in the women’s sprint and keirin.