KUALA LUMPUR: Track cyclist Shah Firdaus Sahrom was relegated to sixth in the men's keirin final at the Paris Olympics today.
Shah, who was drawn fifth behind the derny, was involved in a crash with Japan's Shinji Nakano and Britain's Jack Carlin during the final lap of the race at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
He was initially listed as finishing fourth. In the official results, he was judged to have "been relegated for moving down towards the inside of the track when an opponent was already there."
National track cycling head coach John Beasley was seen debating with an official after the race. It is understood that Malaysia filed an appeal but was unsuccessful.
Video replays of the incident show Shah moving towards Nakano, who had the inside line.
Nakano was then seen moving up towards Shah, and the two made contact, with Carlin subsequently getting tangled up in the collision.
Former national rider Adiq Husainie Othman said he did not believe Shah was at fault.
"Although Shah was seen moving towards Nakano, he did not cross the red line (separating the two). Instead, it was Nakano who moved up and made contact," Adiq told Astro Arena.
Shah was unable to walk initially after the race and was carried off the track by coach Harnizam Basri and high-performance manager Izam Mohamad.
Shah's skinsuit was badly torn, and he appeared to suffer abrasion wounds on his legs and hand.
As expected, Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) and Matthew Richardson (Australia) claimed gold and silver, with Australia's Matthew Glaetzer taking bronze.Earlier today, Shah had crossed the line fourth in his men's keirin semi-final heat behind Richardson, Lavreysen, and Ota Kaiya (Japan).
However, Kaiya was later relegated to fourth, promoting Shah to third.
Only the top three in each semi-final heat qualified for the final.Two riders — Hamish Turnbull (Great Britain) and Luca Spiegel (Germany) — had crashed during the race, and after a video review, Kaiya was judged to be the cause of the crash.
Shah was Malaysia's last hope for a medal in track cycling following Azizulhasni Awang's disqualification in the keirin yesterday.Azizulhasni, the sixth rider behind the derny, was judged to have overtaken the derny before it left the track during his first-round heat.
Chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Amin confirmed that Malaysia filed an appeal following Azizulhasni's disqualification but was unable to overturn the decision.