PARIS: It could not get any tougher for Azizulhasni Awang as he has to beat one of these riders - old rival Matthew Glaetzer of Australia, Hangzhou Asian Games double gold medallist Ota Kaiya of Japan and in-form Jeffrey Hoogland of Holland to earn a direct route to the quarter-finals of the men's keirin competition tonight.
Azizul, competing in his fifth Olympics, has been drawn in a tough Heat 1 with Glaetzer, Kaiya, Hoogland, Frenchman Rayan Helal and Surinam's Jair Tjon En Fa.
Hoogland has been in fiery form as he had already featured as the second rider for Holland in the team sprint event where they smashed the world record twice.
The first round of men's keirin gets underway from 11.19pm (Malaysia time) on Saturday.
Azizul will need to get cracking from the start if he wants to avoid going through the repechage.
Only the top two from each of the five first round heats will advance directly to the quarter-finals, which takes place on Sunday.
The rest will race in the repechage heat with the top two making it to the last eight.
There will be a total of 18 battling it from the quarter-finals onwards.
The 36-year-old Malaysian will definitely have fresher legs to start the following day if he can avoid racing in the repechage.
Track coach John Beasley is optimistic Azizul can rise to the challenge in Paris.
"We did the same preparation, if not better, as in Tokyo three years ago," said Beasley.
"In Tokyo, we qualified 17th in the sprint and won the silver in the keirin, here in Paris Azizul qualified in 10th place in the sprint and got his personal best, so we know we have the speed to win the keirin, he just needs to execute the race and plan well."
The Australian coach has been training Azizul since his teenage days.
Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom also has his work cut out in a tough Heat 5 alongside Colombian Cristian David Ortega Fontalvo, Lithuanian Vasilijus Lendel, Sam Dakin of New Zealand, Poland's Rudyk Mateusz and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games keirin champion Paul Nicholas of Trinidad and Tobago.
DRAW
FIRST ROUND
Men's keirin
Heat 1: Azizulhasni Awang (Mas), Matthew Glaetzer (Aus), Ota Kaiya (Jpn), Jeffrey Hoogland (Ned), Ryan Helal (Fra), Jair Tjon En Fa (Sur).
Heat 2: Zhou Yu (Chn), Sebastien Vigier (Fra), Jack Carlin (Gbr), Maximilian Doernbach (Ger), Andrey Chugay (Kaz), Harrie Lavreysen (Ned).
Heat 3: Matthew Richardson (Aus), James Hedgcock (Can), Liu Qi (Chn), Hamish Turnbull (Gbr), Shinji Nakano (Jpn), Jean Spies (Rsa).
Heat 4: Nick Wammes (Can), Kevin Santiago Quintero Chavarro (Col), Luca Spiegel (Ger), Mikhail Yakovlev (Isr), Jai Angsuthasawit (Tha), Kwesi Browne (Tto).
Heat 5: Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom (Mas), Cristian David Ortega Fontalvo (Col), Lithuanian Vasilijus Lendel (Ltu), Sam Dakin (Nzl), Rudyk Mateusz (Pol), Paul Nicholas (Tto).
