PETALING JAYA: Azizulhasni Awang earned his fifth career Asian Games medal after contributing bronze in the men's individual sprint event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
The 38-year-old, the oldest in the field, relied on his experience to defeat Thailand's former Asian Games keirin champion Jai Angsuthasawit 2-0 in the third-place playoff at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka today (Oct 1).
Azizul had earlier lost 0-2 to China's Li Zhiwei in the semi-finals.
Azizul, who was third fastest (9.467s) in qualifying on Wednesday behind Japan's Kaiya Ota and Zhiwei, had beaten Japan youngster Konata Takahashi 2-0 in the quarter-finals to secure his place in the final four.
This is Azizul's fifth career Asian Games medal, including two golds in keirin (2010 Guangzhou) and in individual sprint (2018 Jakarta).
The former world champion cyclist has a chance to add to his collection when he race in his favourite keirin event on Friday (Oct 2).
Ota later beat Zhiwei 2-0 in the final to retain the gold medal for Japan.
The women's individual sprint also saw keirin bronze medallist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri and Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid both advancing to the quarter-finals tomorrow.
Izzah defeated Hong Kong's Ching Yin Shan while Alyssa downed Taiwan's Liu Shang-ying in the second round.
Malaysia have already won two medals in women's track cycling earlier through the team sprint (silver) and the keirin (Izzah).
