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Monday March 30, 2009

Confident Rizal warns the cycling world his best is yet to come

PETALING JAYA: The cycling world has not seen the best of Rizal Tisin yet as he believes he is capable of going much faster.

On Friday in Pruszkow, Poland, Rizal put his name in Malaysian cycling history when he clocked 1:01.658 to secure a World Championship bronze medal in the 1km time trial.

His four-lap effort saw him breaking his own Asian record of 1:02.095 set in Victoria, Australia, just three months ago.

Rizal became the first Asian rider to break the 1:02 barrier but he felt that he could have gone faster.

American Taylor Phinney, who won the men’s individual pursuit title three days ago, took silver in 1:01.611 while German Stefan Nimke posted a world leading time of 1:00.666.

“That was not a perfect effort. I dropped pace in the second lap and had to make up ground in the next before sprinting home.

“I could have done a better time and it could have earned me the silver,” said Rizal in a telephone interview yesterday.

“Anyway, I’m still happy I got a medal and that was important. I hope this has opened up eyes that Malaysian cyclists are good on the world stage.”

It was Rizal’s final lap spurt that enabled him to clock the impressive time, which proved good enough for the bronze medal.

As the anchor rider in the team sprint earlier in the week, he also put up the fastest lap to help Malaysia secure a sixth-place finish.

“I am always stronger in the finishing but I have to work on my build-up and start. My target by next year is to aim for a low 1:01,” said Rizal. “My big aims are to try to win the gold medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year.

“It will be tougher in the Commonwealth Games as the British and Australian riders are capable of going below 1:02. But I have a very good chance at the Asian Games as the Japanese and Chinese are further behind.”

The Klang-born rider has certainly found his niche in track cycling. He started out as part of the endurance pursuit team when he was first roped into the national squad four years ago but started training in keirin.

He managed to end a 19-year-drought for Malaysia by bagging the keirin title at the Asian Championships in Bangkok in 2006.

But the presence of Josiah Ng and the emergence of Azizul Hasni Awang meant that he had to make way after a disappointing Asian Games debut in Doha.

Coach John Beasley switched him to the 1km time trial in early 2007 and he has since then rose to the top ranks of world cycling.

Rizal will return home tomorrow where he is expected to take a break to pursue a police training course.

“I deferred the course because of the world championships but I hope I can move into the next intake and finish it by this year. Then it will be back to training after that,” he said.

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