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Saturday March 28, 2009

Cycling: Azizul, Josiah come within a whisker of keirin final

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian cyclists Azizul Hasni Awang and Josiah Ng narrowly missed out on a place in the keirin final of the World Track Championships in Pruzskow, Poland, on Thursday.

The duo were the only Asians to qualify for the second round but failed to make the final after finishing fourth in their respective heats.

The top three riders from the two second round heats qualify for the final and Azizul had the misfortune of having to contend with two British riders in Matthew Crampton and Ross Edgar.

Azizul, the world No. 1 rider in keirin, lost the battle to the two Britons, who finished behind Frenchman Francois Pervis.

Malaysia's Josiah Ng Onn Lam, top left, come off the bend to win his repechage heat of the Men's Keirin, passing Spain's Jose Antonio Escuredo Raimondez, center, and Barry Forde of the Barbados in the World Track Cycling Championships at Pruszkow, near Warsaw, Poland, Thursday. - AP

Josiah also finished in the same position in his second round heat behind Dutchman Teun Mulder, Russian Sergey Borisov and German Maximilian Levy.

Azizul had advanced straight after finishing in the top two of his first round heat behind Borisov but Josiah took a tougher route after only managing fifth in his first round heat. He then had to win the repechage.

Maximilian went on to emerge as the surprise winner of the keirin final when he finished ahead of Pervis and Mulder.

Despite the defeat, the Malaysian duo can take heart that they were the best Asian finishers after making it to the top 12.

Azizul, who had won the overall UCI Track World Cup title recently, was hoping to become the first Malaysian to qualify for the final to contend for a possible first-ever medal but luck was just not on his side.

“It was a battle of tactics and the two British riders just did not allow me to get in front.

“They blocked each time I attempted to move forward and it was just too late,” said Azizul.

“They had marked me out. But this is the world meet and everyone is on top of his game ... so it’s something I expected.”

Azizul still has the 200m sprint tomorrow but his chances of earning a medal in this event are slim.

“I will try to break my personal best time and qualify for the knockout stage first,” said Azizul, who holds the Asian record of 10.160 in the 200m sprint.

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