Nur Suraiya and Farina finish fifth in Tandem B Sprint debut at Glasgow Commonwealth Games, stay positive for time trial
GLASGOW: National para track cycling pair Nur Suraiya Muhamad Zamri and pilot Farina Shawati Mohd Adnan are taking the positives from their Commonwealth Games debut after finishing fifth in the women’s Tandem B Sprint qualifying round at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The pair clocked 11.834 seconds (s) at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome here today, while compatriots Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais and pilot Nurul Suhada Zainal finished sixth in 12.799s.
England’s Elizabeth Jordan and pilot Sylvia Misztal topped qualifying in 10.870s, followed by teammates Sophie Unwin and pilot Anna Whitworth in 10.890s, while Australia’s Jessica Gallagher and pilot Jacqueline Mengler-Mohr were third in 11.042s.
Farina Shawati said they had given their best, although their time was slower than expected.
“We both gave our best today. This is my first Commonwealth Games in para event and I am satisfied with my partner. We wanted to give our very best but our time was not as good as expected because it was quite far from what we had targeted. I expected us to improve on our previous personal best of 11.5s.
“Perhaps the conditions affected us as we only arrived two days before the race, so we needed time to regain our rhythm. Nevertheless, we tried our best today,” she told Bernama after the qualifying round.
Nur Suraiya said she was proud to have competed at the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
“This is my first Commonwealth Games and I feel proud of my achievement today,” she said.
Meanwhile, Farina said the pair would now turn their attention to the women’s Tandem B 1,000m time trial, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday (Aug 1).
“We hope to build on today’s performance. We still have the 1km event and we will give our very best to achieve the best possible result,” she said.
Nur Suraiya and Farina won the women’s B 1,000m time trial gold medal at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games, while their best achievement at world level was a silver medal in the Tandem Team Sprint at the 2022 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships in Paris.
