HANGZHOU: National track cycling siblings Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom made it into the Asian Games men’s sprint event quarter-finals at the Chun’an Jieshou Sports Centre Velodrome yesterday.
Elder brother Muhammad Shah Firdaus, 27, who is vying for his maiden Asian Games medal in the individual event after winning silver in the team sprint in Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Games, beat David Beckham of India in the 1/8 finals.
The multiple Asian Championships medalist posted 9.659 seconds, 0.276s faster than the Indian cyclists in heat 5 to face a stern test against Asian Championship silver medalist Shinji Nakano of Japan today.
Muhammad Ridwan, 22, however, had to qualify through the repechage round after being left +0.308s behind Chinese Taipei’s Shih Feng Kang (10.024s) in heat 6.
Muhammad Ridwan, who bagged the men’s team sprint bronze medal with Umar Hasbullah and Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis yesterday, then clocked 9.880s in the repechage to edge South Koreans – Jeseok Oh (+0.013s) and Seojun Kang (+0.165s) – for the quarter-finals ticket to compete against China’s Zhou Yu in the last eight stage.
The siblings had to shoulder the nation’s responsibilities in the sprint event after national ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang withdrew from the Asian Games after sustaining injuries following a high-speed crash during training recently.
Meanwhile, Anis Amira Rosidi and Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri finished seventh and eighth respectively in the women’s keirin event. – BERNAMA
