Shah hits the brakes

No action yet: Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom is still in the rehabilitation phase and is not able to train properly.

PETALING JAYA: It’s a rocky start to the year for Malaysian track cyclist Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom.

Malaysian cycling technical director John Beasley has ruled out any hopes of Shah Firdaus seeing action at the Asian Cycling Championships in Tagaytay in Philippines from March 25-31 as the recovery progress has been slower than what the Australian had expected.

Shah Firdaus had been struggling with a right knee injury since last February. It was initially thought to be tendonitis but was later diagnosed as a trochlear cleft lesion.

Beasley said Shah Firdaus is still in the rehabilitation phase and is not yet able to train properly.

The Asian meet would have been a good place for Shah Firdaus to make his presence felt especially after he defied the odds to reach the men’s keirin final at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

“Shah has gone through a lot of muscle wastage, he is down about six centimetres in muscle mass, so there is a lot of work to be done to build that back up and strengthen the structure around the knee, including the ligaments,” said Beasley.

“Honestly, I don’t think we will see him for a while. The Asian Championships will be an important assignment but it is highly unlikely given he is still way behind where I expected him to.

“Shah has not started any acceleration training yet, so I don’t expect him to see any competitive action in the first three months of the year.

“We just have to rely on the medical team and support staff to get him back to where he was physically,” said Beasley.

Shah Firdaus will also miss the first leg of the Track World Cup series in Perth (March 6-8).

The second leg takes place in Hong Kong (April 17-19) while Malaysia will host the finale at end of April at the National Velodrome in Nilai.

Despite coping with his injury, Shah Firdaus displayed tremendous grit and determination to chart new career milestones in the first half of 2025.

He won a keirin silver and a sprint bronze at the Asian Championships in Nilai in February followed by a stunning keirin victory at the UCI Nations Cup in Turkiye the following month.

Shah Firdaus and double Asian champion Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri are the only cyclists under the Road to Gold elite programme.