PETALING JAYA: Azizulhasni Awang and Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom have vowed to prevent the giants from Holland – Jefffey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen from having easy rides into the men’s sprint quarter-finals today.
Azizul and Shah Firdaus have been pitted against the two top Dutch sprinters after reaching the last 16 stage at Izu Velodrome yesterday.
Olympic debutant Shah Firdaus will take on the reigning triple world champion Lavreysen while Azizul will have an exciting clash against former world champion Hoogland.
Both Dutch cyclists are on fiery form after breaking the Olympics record in the sprint qualifying earlier.
Lavreysen was the first to clock 9.215 to break the previous record of 9.551 set by Britain’s Jason Kenny en route to winning gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Hoogland, who was next to go out, responded with a matching time immediately after.
The Dutch duo already have a gold to show from the team sprint competition on Tuesday.
Azizul and Shah Firdaus had to work harder to get into the top 16 as they had to go through the repechage route after losing the first round knockout stage to Kenny and Lavreysen respectively.
Earlier, Azizul and Shah Firdaus were placed 17th (9.626) and 23rd (9.700s) in the qualifying round.
In the repechage, they were beaten by Paul Nicholas of Trinidad and Tobago and Britain’s Jack Carlin respectively but bounced back to get the better of Nick Wammes of Canada and Poland’s Patryk Rajkowski to make the last 16 eventually.
Malaysia are not expected to win in the sprint as their medal target event is keirin, which will take place over the weekend.
Although they are not the favourites, Azizul said they will not make it easy for the Dutch cyclists.
“We have discussed with coach John (Beasley) and we will be using the races to warm up for the keirin,” said Azizul.
“But I will give my 100 per cent although I am taking on a giant sprinter tomorrow.
“It’s been a long, tough day as we had to go through a longer route.
“But I expected this as the Europeans, being physically bigger in size, have the advantage when it comes to sprint,” said Azizul, who lost his status as the Asian record holder after Yuta Wakimoto of Japan clocked 9.518 for ninth fastest time in qualifying.
Azizul set the Asian record of 9.548 at the world meet in Berlin last year.
“I’m a bit disappointed as it’s not what I wanted. I was aiming for around 9.5 but it’s ok. I am happy with my speed as I lost very close to Kenny and Paul,” said the former keirin world champion.
