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Sunday April 5, 2009

Dungun dynamite

World silver medallist Azizul Hasni Awang’s rise to stardom began the day he received a mountain bike from his adopted father for doing well in the UPSR at the age of 12. Here, he relates how it all began to Starsport’s LIM TEIK HUAT.

AZIZUL Hasni Awang has always had a fascination for bicycles. But his early life makes for fascinating reading as well.

Azizul was given away by his family two weeks after his birth in Dungun, Terengganu.

However, his adoptive parents, who were childless, raised him up with the same unconditional love and Azizul is grateful to them for their support and encouragement in his life.

For mum: Coach John Beasley lifting Azizul Hasni Awang on his shoulder during the team’s arrival from Poland last week.

“I was born into a family of nine children and I was the eighth child. My adoptive mother Selamiah Yong had no child and that was the reason I became a part of her life,” said Azizul.

“My adoptive father has passed away but I still remember the mountain bike he gave me ... it was the first bicycle I ever owned.”

The bicycle was a reward for Azizul’s good results in the UPSR examination. But what really touched Azizul’s heart was that his father, who worked as a security guard, had scrimped up almost a month’s worth of salary to buy him the bike.

”I treasured it and it was much later that I found out that it cost him RM500,” said Azizul.

And it was then that he decided that he would one day become a world cycling champion.

“I was determined to make something out of cycling and that was how I slowly started to develop a passion for it,” said Azizul, who started competing in junior track events in 2003.

The pint-sized Azizul competed in his first Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Seremban in 2004. He did not win any medal.

He contemplated quitting the sport after being thrown out from the national squad for indiscipline the following year.

But he could not bear the shame of going back to face his adoptive family without achieving anything. So, Azizul buckled down and got back to business. He showed sheer courage and determination to bounce back and earn a historic treble of sprint titles (sprint, keirin and 1km time trial) in the junior ranks of the Asian championships in Kuala Lumpur in 2006.

That was just the breakthrough he was looking for. Azizul then upstaged his more illustrious team-mate Josiah Ng in the keirin final of the Asian championships in Bangkok a year later.

Azizul’s star continued to shine brightly when he captured a double (keirin and sprint) at the Asian meet in Japan last year before qualifying for the Beijing Olympics.

“That success was sweet as we not only beat the Japanese in their own backyard but also in their fa­vou­­­rite discipline,” said Azizul then.

His Olympic debut in August proved to be a bittersweet experience. He was given the honour of carrying the Malaysian flag in the opening ceremony but missed out on the keirin final because of his inexperience. He, however, made up for it by going on to become the only Asian to qualify for the quarter-finals in the sprint.

Azizul has since made more stunning breakthroughs by twice winning in the Track World Cup series and finishing as this season’s overall winner.

But the achievement that really put Asian cycling in the news, and his name on the back pages of local newspapers, was his gallant display at the world meet last week.

Azizul, or Awang as he is called by his peers when he competes overseas, came within a whisker of pulling off the biggest upset in world track championships when he stretched Frenchman Gre­­­go­­­ry Bauge to a deciding third heat.

The physically bigger Bauge later said it was certainly one of the toughest duels he had gone through and described his Malaysian rival as a ‘wily old monkey’.

Azizul later felt he could have beaten Bauge had he not made a mistake in the build-up to the deciding third heat.

“But it’s still a medal and I was proud to stand on the podium as a Malaysian. I did not forget my adoptive mum for standing behind me all this while,” said Azizul.

The first thing Azizul did after getting his World championship silver medal was to send a text message to Selamiah.

“It was about close to 1am in Malaysia when I told her I got a silver at the World championships. She was very happy that I achieved what I had set out for,” said Azizul, who plans to reward her with a new car and also send her on a pilgrimage.

With success comes rewards and distractions.

Azizul has received cash rewards from the government and the natio­nal cycling body. And, on Fri­day, he is set to be feted by the state government when he returns home.

Thankfully, Azizul is determined not to be swayed off track.

“I still have a long way to go. I hope to win the gold in the London Olympics in 2012. Before that, there are the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to think of. I also want to raise the profile of cycling in the country and it is my hope that every time I win a race, more kids will develop the interest to start riding bicyles.

“If I, a small-sized rider, can do it, so can they,” he said.

As Azizul has proven, size surely doesn’t matter.

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