KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — The Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) is confident Malaysia can win at least two gold medals in the road races at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.
Its president Datuk Abu Samah Abd Wahab said the target was based on the performance and success achieved by the selected riders at the four-day National Road Cycling Championship around Perak which ended today.
“As we know, Malaysia won the gold medal in the last men's elite road race in Vietnam. It is not easy to defend the gold medal but MNCF has figured out the formula to defend the gold medal.
"I think professional riders from continental clubs such as Team Sapura Cycling (TSC) and Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team (TSG) will once again play a big role in bringing home gold medals through the road race in Cambodia," he said in a statement today.
Abu Samah, who is also the president of the Asean Cycling Association (ACA), stressed that the National Road Cycling Championship had shown the riders' deep interest in cycling, with almost 500 participants taking part.
He explained that at the Perak races, MNCF kept it open by allowing all riders to choose any event to participate in.
For the record, Malaysia won the gold medal in the men's road race (162.25km) event at the 31st SEA Games in VIetnam last month through TSG rider Muhammad Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff from the Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team.
The National Road Cycling Championship saw TSC riders Muhsin Al Redha Misbah and Nur Aisyah Mohamad Zubir from the Terengganu A team each winning the men's and women's elite mass race yesterday.
In the elite singles time trial (ITT) event which took place Friday, Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli from TSC and Johor A representative Siti Nur Adibah Akma Mohd Fuad dominated the men's and women's categories respectively.
Meanwhile, Perak’s Nyo Chi Hui — the gold medallist in the women's scratch event at the 28th Asian Junior Track Cycling Championships in New Delhi, India, held recently — emerged champion of the women's junior mass race yesterday.
Meanwhile, the final day of the National Road Cycling Championship today saw Mior Muhammad Hazwan Hamzah of TSC win the men's Under-23 mass 165.2-km race with a time of 3hrs 55min 59 secs.
He beat Terengganu A rider Zhe Yie Kee who finished second with a time of 3’58:47s, while Mohamad Faiz Fakhri Omar from Perak came in third.
— Bernama
