KUALA LUMPUR: Track cyclist Azizulhasni Awang ended his first day of competition at the Paris Olympics with a new national record and a run to the third round of the men's individual sprint event yesterday.
Azizulhasni, 36, clocked a blistering 9.402 seconds to place 10th overall from 30 riders in the men's individual sprint qualifying round at the Saint Quentin en Yvelines Velodrome.
The time bettered his own national record of 9.523s which he had set en route to gold at the Asian Championships in Nilai last year.
Azizulhasni's timing was briefly a new Asian record until Japan's Ota Kaiya took to the track and clocked 9.350s (eighth overall), erasing the former Asian mark of 9.518s set by Yuta Wakimoto (Japan) at Tokyo 2020.
Shah Firdaus Sahrom also did well to clock a solid 9.635s to place 22nd overall.
Azizulhasni went on to defeat Germany's Luca Spiegel in the first round followed by Great Britain's Hamish Turnbull in the second round.
He, however, lost to Netherlands Jeffrey Hoogland in the third round. Azizulhasni placed third in the subsequent repechage behind Poland's Mateusz Rudyk and Israel's Mikhail Yakovlev and thus did not make the cut for quarterfinals.
Shah had earlier lost to Yakovlev in the first round and finished second in his repechage, ending his campaign in the event.
The individual sprint was nevertheless a good chance for Azizulhasni and Shah to test their legs ahead of the all-important keirin, in which they are gunning for gold, which starts on Saturday.
The duo will now have a day to rest which should give them fresher legs compared to their rivals in the keirin.
Meanwhile, Izzah Izzati Asri's campaign in the women's keirin came to an early end.
She fininshed fourth in her first round heat and third in the subsequent repechage and thus did not advance to the quarterfinals.
The 20-year-old is making her Olympic debut in Paris. She will next compete in the women's individual sprint event which also begins on Saturday.