By Muhammad Afiff Md Adnan
SHIZUOKA, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- He is 38 and had trained with the team for only three weeks, but that did not stop Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang from producing an extraordinary ride to win the men’s keirin gold at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games at Izu Velodrome today.
The Dungun-born cyclist from Terengganu said the victory was even more meaningful as he had to compete against much younger riders, including 22-year-old Chinese rider Li Zhiwei, in a high-speed final.
He said the victory proved that all the sacrifices and challenges he had endured leading up to the Games had been worthwhile, especially after joining the team’s training camp in Brisbane a week late.
“I only trained with the team for three weeks. But alhamdulillah, despite all the challenges, everything went smoothly.
“In the sprint, my timing wasn’t too bad. I closed the gap. It’s just that I couldn’t match the strength of the Chinese rider in the semi-finals,” he told reporters after the race.
However, failing to advance to the sprint final yesterday motivated Azizulhasni to bounce back in the keirin, where he had vowed to give his all in pursuit of the gold.
“I said I would first try to make the final, and if I made the final, I would hunt for the gold. Alhamdulillah, today I fulfilled that promise,” he said.
Commenting on the final, the Pocket Rocketman said the race was contested at such a high speed that he described it as almost on par with a World Championships final.
He chose not to rush to catch the leading group, instead gradually building up his pace before increasing his speed on the final lap to ensure that no rider overtook him at the end of the race.
“I gave them a gap and chased them down slowly. My timing was such that I only came in strongly on the final lap to make sure nobody tried to overtake me at the last minute.
“The timing was perfect and I overtook them all the way to the finish line. It was beautiful, but I was really exhausted afterwards,” he said.
According to Azizulhasni, his achievement also earned recognition from much younger rivals, including Japan’s Kaiya Ota, who is 11 years younger than him, and Zhiwei, who is 16 years younger.
“They also said, ‘You are crazy, 38 years old, how can you still be competing at this level (at the Asian Games)?’” he said.
The victory saw Azizulhasni end his Asian Games career with an overall haul of three gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
-- BERNAMA