INCHEON: Cyclist Zhang Miao has turned to coaching despite being only 26 years old.
A gold medallist in the team sprint in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Zhang Miao is one of the coaches with the China team in Incheon.
Zhang Miao and his brother Zhang Lei combined with Cheng Changsong to set a new record of 44.406 en route to the gold. The 33-year-old Zhang Lei, also an individual sprint gold medallist in Guangzhou, has since retired and is now a club coach.
“I’m not competing at the top level any more, maybe those smaller championships. I want to devote more time to coaching youngsters,” said Zhang Miao.
Despite finishing as overall track champions with five golds in Guangzhou, Zhang Miao believes Malaysia will be one of their biggest threats for honours.
Malaysia completed a 1-2 finish in keirin in Guangzhou with Azizulhasni Awang taking the gold and Josiah the silver.
“Azizulhasni is going to be a big threat again. Just look at his performance in the recent Commonwealth Games (in Glasgow, where he won the bronze in keirin).
“Josiah Ng is another rider we have to watch out for because he is very experienced. I think it should be an interesting competition,” said Zhang Miao, who added that China will be banking on 24-year-old Bao Saifei (sprint) and youngster Xu Chao (keirin) for golds.
Saifei finished fourth in the sprint at the Asian Cycling Championships in Kazakhstan in May while Xu Chao finished eighth in the keirin.
“We know Malaysia are strong contenders for the gold medals here but we must keep our eyes open for the others too. We have to be careful of Japan and hosts South Korea. They too have been working hard for this Asiad and nobody can take it easy here,” said Zhang Miao.
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