NILAI: From practicing scrums to standing starts, Adib Andhar Andan has perhaps gone through a unique transition into track cycling.
Adib is from Sarawak, a country that do not have a velodrome yet, but he has made it to the national elite cycling team.
And what a journey it has been as he found himself thrust into the deep end of the Track World Cup action with just three days of notice.
Adib started out in sports as a rugby player but made the switch to cycling during the Covid 19 pandemic to lose weight.
The Kuching-born athlete, who only joined the national setup in 2025, said he only knew on Tuesday that he will be debuting in the men's team sprint as a last minute replacement for the injured Ridwan Sahrom, who sustained a shoulder ligament tear at the previous World Cup in Hong Kong last week.
The scratch team of Adib, Mohd Akmal Nazimi Jusena and Mohd Fadhil Zonis - clocked 45.704s to rank 13th out of 14 teams in the qualifying round and missed out progression to the first round.
Only the top eight will advance.
Holland, powered by reigning Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen were fastest with 42.438s followed by France (42.951s) and China (43.233s).
"Preparation wasn't perfect... physically, I wasn't well-prepared but mentally, I gave it my all.
“After the race, I couldn't even stand, I just lied down... I really gave more than 100 per cent," said the 21-year-old.
"I will go back and improve further. I promise that I will get better and better day by day. The opportunity to compete at this level is rare for a young athlete,” said Adib.
On how he got into cycling, Adib said his main goal taking up the sport only a few years back was primarily to lose weight.
“We could not play rugby at that time and I tried cycling then. There was a fast track programme and I signed up for it and that was how I got into the national set-up as they felt I have a better potential to achieve something,” he added.
Adib said the pressure was still there even as a last minute replacement for Ridwan.
“If we don’t feel pressure, it means we don’t care about the race. I was a little nervous.”
Adib, who looks up to who Azizulhasni Awang and Lavreysen, will next shift his focus for the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in August, where he hopes to apply the lessons learned from the world's best.
