KUALA LUMPUR: National track cycling programme technical director John Beasley is pleased with his charges' performances at the International Belgian Track Meeting — their last competition before next month's Paris Olympics.
Paris-bound trio Azizulhasni Awang, Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Izzah Izzati Asri, as well as Ridwan Sahrom competed in Ghent, focusing on the individual sprint events.
Shah reached the men's quarterfinals, while Azizulhasni and Ridwan made the second round of the UCI class 1 meet on Friday.
Izzah also made the quarterfinals in the women's sprint yesterday and placed fourth in the 500 metre individual time trial on Friday.
Beasley said the quartet had met his expectations.
"(They were) solid. That was around what I had expected from them as we did not back off the training (load) at all in the lead up to the competition," said the Australian when contacted in Belgium today (June 30).
"This (Ghent meet) was not an event we had targeted, it was just about getting some extra percentage out of a planned training effort.
"We are in a good place and I am happy with the block of training that finished today.
"I am happy to now move onto the last block of training heading into Paris."
The team opted not to compete in the keirin, which is a riskier event due to the higher possibility of crashes, in Ghent today (June 30).
They will now head to Mallorca, Spain, for their final training camp before the Olympics.
The trio will be focusing on fine tuning their speed and power in their final block of training.
Azizulhasni, a two-time Olympic medallist, and Shah have both been earmarked as potential keirin medallists in Paris.