NILAI – The country’s elite cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom does not want to be disappointed again.

He is determined to end his title drought at the continental level at the Asian Track Cycing Championship (ACC) this time, at the National Velodrome here.

The native of Muar, Johor has collected five medals so far, including three silvers, but has yet to win his first Asian title.

The 27-year-old previously missed out on the gold medal twice and had to be satisfied with the silver in the keirin event at the 2022 edition in New Delhi and the sprint event in the 2019 edition in Jakarta, in addition to winning the team sprint silver (2022), as well as bronze in the keirin ( 2019) and team sprint (2019).

Competing on home turf this time, he is hoping to join the ranks of the continent’s elite riders who have won Asian titles.

“I am really chasing for the title because I missed so many times, even at the finishing line by millimetres. Performance wise it’s ok, only that we don’t know what will happen during the race.

“Even though we are in a good situation, anything can happen and we can’t underestimate our opponents, I hope everything goes well. At this Asian level, any rider can spring a surprise by overtaking at the last moment,” he said when met by reporters here today.

Commenting further, he said the competition in Asia is keener, where not only Japanese riders, but riders from China, South Korea and Thailand are also able to pull off surprises.

This time, Shah Firdaus and national track cycling champion Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang will only compete in the keirin and individual sprint events scheduled for tomorrow, Friday and Sunday, while the challenge in the team sprint event will be borne by the national back up riders.

However, he explained that he did not want to set his hopes too high because his and the Malaysian team’s main mission this time is to get qualification points for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

He said, with the World Championships scheduled to take place in Glasgow, Scotland from August 3-13, followed by the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from 23 September until October, this is not the best time to reach the peak of performance.

In order to collect qualifying points for Paris, Shah Firdaus said he must at least advance to the quarter-finals of the sprint event, while for the keirin, he wants himself and Mohd Azizulhasni to qualify for the final with one of them emerging as the champion so that he can get an additional slot next year. – Bernama