KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian track cycling ace Datuk Azizulhasni Awang has continued to show progress ahead of the Paris Olympics by winning the bronze medal in the men's sprint event at the Japan Track Cup held at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka yesterday.
The 2017 World Champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medal winner in the keirin event and who has targeted the gold in Paris, however, had to be satisfied with the bronze medal after losing out to two riders from the host country.
The race was won by Kaiya Ota who lived up to his top billing as the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal winner while fellow countryman Yuta Obara took the silver.
This is the first competitive overseas competition for Azizulhasni since the 36-year-old 'The Pocket Rocketman' won a bronze medal at the 2024 Australian National Championship in March.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian rider Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom completed the race in eighth spot.
In the women's competition, the country's leading young track cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri had to concede defeat to the might of Japanese riders who dominated the race and finished in seventh spot.
The winner was Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal winner Mina Sato who was simply in a class of her own while her compartriots Fuko Umekawa and Riyu Ohta finished in second and third spots.
The Japan Track Cup 11 will continue tomorrow with all three riders competing in the keirin event.
The championships is among competitions lined for Azizulhasni, Shah Firdaus and Nurul Izzah as preparations for the Paris Olympics.