NILAI: Zulhelmi Zainal made history for Malaysia as his more illustrious senior Azizulhasni Awang failed to defend his men’s sprint title at the Asian Track Championships in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.
Zulhelmi became the first-ever Malaysian cyclist to win the boys’ 3km individual pursuit event after he clocked 3:24.985 at the National Velodrome last night.
Kazakhstan’s Maxim Gridchin posted 3:25.527 to settle for silver.
Jang Hun of South Korea clocked 3:24.822 against Ryuta Sato of Japan (3:25.283) for the bronze.
No Malaysian has won a medal in the junior ranks of the individual pursuit race in the history of the Asian meet.
Zulhelmi reached the gold medal playoff after he posted 3:22.702 to top the qualifying session.
His Kazakhstan rival earned his place by posting the second fastest time of 3:22.949.
Zulhelmi bagged bronze in the team pursuit two days ago with Muhammad Shafiq Mohamad, Muhammad Hakimi Nor and Muhammad Shahmir Riduan Abdul Halim with a new national record of 4:20.355.
The 18-year-old Zulhelmi said words of encouragement from former Olympian M. Kumaresan fired him up before the championship.
“He told me that I had nothing to lose and just go out to do my best in our own backyard. He came and congratulated me after the final.
“I’ve been training for only three months and I did not expect to win the gold. But after the qualifying round, I knew I had a chance,” said the Kluang-born.
It was not the ending that Azizul had hoped for as he settled for silver in the men’s sprint after a fiery start in qualifying earlier in the day.
The reigning keirin world champion clocked a blistering 9.774 to emerge fastest in qualifying en route to smashing his national record of 9.854 set at altitude in Mexico in 2013.
Azizul went on to beat India’s Ranjit Singh 1-0 and Fukaya Tomohiro of Japan 2-0 – the winner of the keirin two days ago, to reach the last four.
He overcame Kazakhstan’s Pavel Vorzhev 2-1 in the semi-finals but Kazunari Watanabe of Japan proved to be a tad better for the pint-sized Malaysian in the final.
Azizul said: “Mum, I’m sorry I could not present you with the gold medal.”
“I wanted to win it for my mother (Selamiah Yong) as it was her 54th birthday. She came to watch me race but it was not to be.”
Fatehah Mustapa will be the best hope for Malaysia on the final day of competition today.
The 29-year-old former two-time champion will be looking to make amends in the women’s keirin after failing to impress in the sprint on Sunday.
Fatehah claimed a bronze medal in the 500m time trial on Saturday but was eliminated in the second round of the sprint.
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