Datuk Stuart Ramalingam
KUALA LUMPUR: The concerns and dissatisfaction raised by national track cycling ace Azizulhasni Awang is hoped to be solved during the Road to Gold (RTG) committee meeting in two weeks time.
RTG programme coordinator Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said, he was aware of the issues faced by the 2017 keirin world champion with the National Sports Council (NSC), and hopes decisions will be made during the meeting accordingly.
He said the RTG was set up precisely to solve all the ‘roadblocks’ faced by the athletes ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games scheduled from July 26 to Aug 11, next year.
"I am aware of this issue that Azizulhasni has been facing with NSC. This is part of the compilation of all the athletes' issues and requests, which I have just completed after meeting all the RTG athletes.
"Unfortunately some longstanding issues like in this case started one and half years ago between Azizulhasni and NSC, which needed me (as the coordinator) to obtain relevant details from various parties to be taken to the committee for consideration,” he said in a statement, today.
Earlier, Azizulhasni had expressed his disappointment towards the NSC for failing to provide a complete support system after moving his training base from Melbourne, Australia to National Velodrome in Nilai since early this year.
Nicknamed as ‘The Pocket Rocketman,’ Azizulhasni said, a series of discussions were held with the NSC for a year before he returned to Malaysia, but no solution has been found as of now with the Paris Games is in a year's time.
The 35-year-old, who bagged keirin bronze in Rio 2016 and silver in Tokyo 2020 Olympics, said though he accepted NSC’s decision to shift the training base with an open heart, his return to the homeland was not accompanied by a complete and world-class support system. - Bernama
