PETALING JAYA: Top track cyclist Azizulhasni Awang continued his impressive form this year by delivering another podium finish for Malaysia in the Japan Track Cup II in Shizuoka on Saturday (May 16).
The 38-year-old beat Australia’s Ryan Tayte 2-0 in the men's sprint bronze medal playoff match at Izu Velodrome to secure his second medal in the series.
Azizul had earned a bronze behind fellow Malaysian teammate Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom in the keirin in the Japan Track Cup I on Friday.
Azizul’s bid for the final came to a halt earlier after he lost 0-2 to Asian Games champion Kaiya Ota of Japan in the semi-finals.
En route to the last four, Azizul had earlier beaten Britain's Joseph Truman in the first round before dispatching Japan's Ryoya Mikami 2-0 in the quarter-finals.
Ota, the World Championships bronze medallist for sprint, defeated fellow Japanese teammate Shinji Nakano 2-0 in the final for the gold.
Technical director John Beasley commended Azizul for flying the national flag at the top level again.
“This is a strong field as some of the best sprinters made the trip to Japan and it just proves again why Azizul is a different breed of athlete," said Beasley.
"He is not at his best yet but was still able to race smartly against younger competitors."
Azizul had clocked 9.737s to place fifth in qualifying at the start of the day while Shah Firdaus posted 9.897s to place 14th but lost to Nakano in the first round
Only the top 16 advanced to the first round.
The bronze-medal achievement was another positive sign for Azizul, who had produced a remarkable performance to take a stunning gold in the keirin and bronze in the sprint at the World Cup final leg in Nilai last month.
Azizul had voiced out his intention to focus first on the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games before thinking about extending his career until Los Angeles Olympics.
In the women's individual sprint, Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid and Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri placed ninth (10.858s) and 13th (10.988s) respectively in the qualifying session.
Alyssa, however, lost to Japan's Haruka Nakazawa while Izzah went down to China's Wang Lijuan in the first round.
Two-time keirin world champion Mina Sato of Japan downed China's Yuan Liying 2-1 to claim gold in the final.
New Zealand's Ellese Andrews, the current individual sprint-keirin Olympic champion, settled for bronze after beating Lijuan 2-0 in the playoff.
