The ‘lamb’ turns lion for Malaysia

We did it!: Mohd Fadhil Zonis celebrates with teammates after completing the men’s team sprint. — GLENN GUAN/The Star

BANGKOK: “Sacrificial lamb” Mohd Fadhil Zonis will come home with a SEA Games track cycling gold medal after all.

And it was all the more satisfying, as Fadhil, Mohd Ridwan Sahrom and Akmal Nazimi Jusena secured the team sprint gold medal in style, breaking the long standing outdoor track national record.

The trio clocked 1:00.520s in a photo-finish final at Huamak Velodrome yesterday, erasing the previous national mark of 1:02.077s set by Azizulhasni Awang, Mohd Edrus Yunus and Josiah Ng back in 2014 at the Incheon Asian Games.

Hosts Thailand posted 1:00.700s to settle for silver.

On Thursday, Fadhil had played the “sacrificial lamb” role in the men’s keirin final by setting the early pace to trick the Thai riders. It allowed his younger teammate Ridwan to squeeze through on the final bend to secure the gold for Malaysia.

Yesterday, the finish was so close that it took a while for the commissaire to declare the official results after a video review and Fadhil, who was the anchor rider yesterday, was a relieved man when the announcement was made.

“In qualifying, we were trying to find the rhythm together. We knew Thailand would be very strong as they are used to training on outdoor track conditions.

“I just gave my 100%. I did not win anything in the keirin final but I’m not disappointed as Ridwan got the gold for Malaysia.

“It doesn’t matter as long as one of us wins, and today was my chance to get on the podium,” said Fadhil.

“We also want to thank Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) and our coaches for helping to arrange a training stint in Chiangmai to allow us to train on outdoor conditions.

“We also got the chance to train at the Cheras Velodrome for a while although it has been closed for sometime,” said Fadhil.

It is the third career SEA Games gold medal for Fadhil. He was also in the team when track cycling was last held in 2017 SEA Games and managed to win two gold medals at that time (men’s 1km time trial and men’s team sprint with Mohd Shariz Efendi Shahrin and Mohd Khairil Nizam Rasol).

The 1km time trial event is not contested in Thailand.

Malaysia closed the track cycling competition with a superb haul of four gold and one silver through Lau New Joe in the men’s points race.

Men

Team sprint final: Malaysia (Mohd Ridwan Sahrom, Mohd Fadhil Zonis, Akmal Nazimi Jusena) 1:00.520s bt Thailand (Yeaunyong Petcharat, Jai Angsuthasawit, Bunma Norasetthada) 1:00.520s.

Points race final: 1. Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) 38 points, 2. Lau New Joe (Mas) 28, 3. Benyamin Van Aert (Ina) 11.