PETALING JAYA: So near, yet so far. It's a big improvement from his outing in Tokyo Olympics three years ago but track cyclist Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom admitted it was not the result he was hoping for.
The 28-year-old was not given much hope but he managed to go all the way to enter the keirin final in Paris today.
Shah Firdaus was in a good position to secure the bronze medal coming out into the final straight at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
It was, however, not meant to be his day as Japan's Shinji Nakano made contact with him and both crashed, taking down Britain's Jack Carlin in the process.
Shah Firdaus initially placed fourth but was then relegated to sixth place for moving down to the inside of the track when an opponent was already there.
"I apologise to the Malaysian people. I actually promised my mum to take her to perform the umrah if I won.
"I already saw the medal in front of me. My body and legs have been in good condition since yesterday.
"I was in the zone and I knew I could beat my opponents.
"But as I have said before, anything can happen in the keirin. This is not the time for me to be blaming anyone.
"I was already there (position to win medal). This will probably take some time to digest. I will rest and try to forget it but it won't be easy," said Shah Firdaus, who reached the quarter-finals in the keirin in Tokyo three years ago.
Harrie Lavreysen of Holland ended Britain's dominance stretching back to 2008 in Beijing by winning the gold ahead of Australians Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer.
