PETALING JAYA: A shot at making history as the first ever Malaysian gold medal winner at the World University Games in Shenzhen in August beckons track cyclist Azizulhasni Awang when he makes his much anticipated comeback after the horrific injury he suffered four months ago.
The two-time World Champion-ships medallist spearheads a strong cast of 125 athletes who will compete in 13 sports (athletics, swimming, diving, badminton, archery, cycling, chess, football, gymnastics, golf, shooting, fencing and taekwondo).
It will be the first time he will be racing on the track again since the unfortunate crash in the final leg of the World Cup series in Manchester where his calf was skewered by a 20cm splinter.
Azizul is pursuing undergraduate studies at the University of Deakin in Melbourne where he is based with the elite track squad and hence is eligible to represent the country at the Games.
High hopes: Azizulhasni Awang is aiming to become the first Malaysian athlete to win at the World University Games in Shenzen in August.Azizul said he accepted the invitation after getting clearance from the National Sports Institute in Bukit Jalil where he has been going daily for rehabilitation.
“I have stayed here longer than I was supposed to because they wanted to make sure I have really recovered from the injury and will not be hampered in any way when I resume my Olympic campaign later this year.
“I have not stepped into the track since the incident and I can’t wait to resume racing again. That’s all I am thinking of and I just hope I can bring out my best effort when the time comes,” said the two-time National Sportsman of the Year recipient.
The 23-year-old Azizul is scheduled to fly back to Melbourne later this week to resume training and wants to use the outing in Shenzhen to gauge his performance level before the track cycling season begins in earnest from October.
The first of four World Cup meets kicks off in Kazakhstan from October and together with the Asian Championships in Kuala Lumpur and World Championships in Melbourne offers ranking points for Olympic qualification for the London Games.
Azizul passed the first half of the qualification stage with flying colours as he held on to the No. 1 spot in the keirin rankings despite missing out on the world meet in Holland in March because of his injury.
”I do not feel any pain when I cycle and the World University Games will be a good place to check out how much effort I need to put into training before my main mission at the Olympic Games next year.”
Besides Azizul, other top Malaysian athletes who have the potential to stand on the podium are New Delhi Commonwealth Games platform champion diver Pandelela Rinong and shooter Nur Ayuni Farhana.
Nur Ayuni partnered Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi to take gold in the women’s 10m air rifle pairs at the Commonwealth Games.
Malaysia have never won a gold medal at the World University Games and their best showing is a silver medal from Che Chew Chan in taekwondo in the 2007 edition in Bangkok.
source : THESTAR
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