A golden opening

Shot in the arm: Azizulhasni Awang will need to focus on his own racing and be ready for whoever lines up alongside him.

TRACK cyclist Azizulhasni Awang’s chances of winning gold in his Asian Games farewell appearance received a boost with the surprise omission of Japan’s top sprinter Kaiya Ota from the keirin competition.

Ota, who is ranked fourth in the world currently, is sitting out the keirin event at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka.

The 27-year-old instead will focus on the individual and team sprint competitions.

He is the defending champion for individual sprint and also helped Japan to win the team sprint title at the last Asiad in Hangzhou three years ago.

In the confirmation list for the final entries two days ago, Japan have only listed Minato Nakaishi as the sole representative for men’s keirin while China have entered Han Xie and Li Zhiwei.

Track cycling competition will be held from Sept 29-Oct 2 and Malaysian technical director John Beasley said that Malaysia should not celebrate although Ota will be missing from the keirin event.

“Kaiya Ota, one of the leading contenders, is not racing in the keirin, but the field will remain competitive,” said Beasley.

“It will still be a very competitive event. Japan always have strong riders for keirin and there is plenty of depth among the riders from China, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Ota is considered the fastest cyclist in Asia and he also holds the Asian record of 9.348s, which he set on his way to winning the individual sprint title at the Asian Championships in Philippines early this year.

But Beasley hopes Azizul and Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom will be out to take advantage.

“Nothing comes easy at a major Games. Azizul and Shah will need to focus on their own racing and be ready for whoever lines up alongside them,” added Beasley.

Malaysian cycling team will wrap up their training camp in Brisbane and fly straight out to Tokyo this week.