BIRMINGHAM: National track cycling coach John Beasley prefers to look on the bright side of things despite both the men’s and women’s sprint teams failing to get among the medals at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Beasley described their performance as “creditable, especially that of Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, who clocked the second fastest lap among all the cyclists at the Lee Valley VeloPark, London.
However, the combination of Shah Firdaus, his brother Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom and Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis could only manage a time of 44.496 seconds (s) to finish fifth overall.
Only the top two teams will race for the gold and silver, while the third and fourth teams will compete for bronze.
“The time of 44.49s is where I expected them to be... I thought that would place us fourth, so we’re not far away.
“I believe the performance of Shah Firdaus is a definite positive to take into tomorrow’s men’s keirin event,” he told Bernama.
The Australian-born coach pointed out that today’s performance was a great start to build on, despite the absence of national track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang at the quadrennial Games.
“We are a second off being world-class, we know that... we know exactly where we are at, and we are building,” he added.
Azizulhasni pulled out from the Games as he is still undergoing rehabilitation following open-heart surgery in April.
Meanwhile, Beasley explained that the women’s team were disqualified due to an infringement.
“The rules state that during the change, each rider must pass the finish line before the rider behind can come through to start their lap. It was close... we just mistimed the change.
“This is what can happen with young teams that are inexperienced at this level of competition as there is a lot of pressure that they are not used to,” he said, adding that he believed they will learn from the mistake.-Bernama