KUALA LUMPUR: National track cycling head coach John Beasley has apologised for Azizulhasni Awang's disqualification in the men's keirin at the Paris Olympics yesterday.
Beasley said there were "no grounds" to fight the decision as Azizulhasni had clearly infringed on the rules during his first round heat at the Saint Quentin en Yvelines Velodrome.
Azizulhasni, drawn sixth behind the derny, was judged to have overtaken the derny before it left the track.
His disqualification meant he was not even allowed to compete in the repechage later yesterday.
"The rule clearly states that you are not allowed to pass the front wheel of the motorbike (derny) before it leaves the track and we (Azizulhasni) were clearly more than one length in front so it didn't give me any grounds to argue the case," Beasley told Astro Arena.
"The motorbike was going slower, it was supposed to exit at 50 kilometres per hour (km/h), but we estimated from the timing of the lap it was 45km/h. But still, you are not allowed to pass the motorbike and we passed the motorbike. That is just how it is.
"The plan was to go to the front but obviously not past the motorbike."
A teary-eyed Beasley added that Azizulhasni was in a state of shock following his disqualification.
The Australian has been coaching Azizulhasni since he was a teenager and the latter has said that this would be his last Olympics.
"He has been really quiet, still in shock like all of us. It is hard to swallow, it is different if you got to race but he didn't even get to race," said Beasley.
"At the end of the day he is the one that feels it worse, I just feel for him. I will just try to be there for him.
"It will probably hit hard later tonight (yesterday) or maybe tomorrow morning. It hasn't quite sunk in yet.
"As a coach, this is the most empty feeling I have had in my career. To finish on a note like this is not something that anyone plans or wishes on anyone."
Beasley apologised for the incident and is concerned about potential backlash from the public but is determined to continue developing Malaysian riders.
"For the last couple of days I have had such a good feeling, our preparations went so well and his (Azizulhasni) form has been unbelievably good. To go out on a technical mistake is hard to take," said Beasley.
"(I just want) to apologise to everybody, especially the minister (Hannah Yeoh) because she is going to have to bear the brunt of the Malaysian public.
"I can't apologise enough for letting down Malaysia but unfortunately, that is life. People make mistakes and unfortunately we made a mistake.
"We cannot change it, all we can do is move forward. We have good young talent coming through and we have to keep working hard to develop that talent. Hopefully one day we can reward Malaysia with that gold medal."
On a positive note, Azizulhasni's teammate Shah Firdaus Sahrom kept Malaysian medal hopes alive by winning his first round repechage yesterday to secure his spot in today's quarterfinals.