KUALA LUMPUR: Track cyclist Shah Firdaus Sahrom has stressed that he does not blame Japan's Shinji Nakano for causing the crash which took them both out of the men's keirin final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Shah, who returned to Malaysia yesterday, said there is no bad blood between them and in fact stressed that they remain good friends.
"I actually met him after the crash, he had broken his shoulder and was quite sad. We were both okay (about incident) and there were no ill feelings," said Shah yesterday.
"Last night (Monday) he messaged me and said he was being attacked (by Malaysian netizens). I was not aware of it until I checked, I was shocked to see thousands of comments.
"I just want to make it clear to everyone that he had no intention of hitting me. Body contact is normal in the keirin, it is just a matter of whether you can stay upright or you crash.
"It was a tough race and everybody wanted to win. I hope the netizens can refrain from doing such things as it also affects us (Malaysian riders).
"I really felt sad when Shinji told me 'I thought Malaysians were nice'.
"Shinji is actually a really good guy. Every time I go to Japan he takes me places. What happened really made me feel bad."
The crash occurred during the final turn of the race, roughly 100 metres from the finish line at the Saint Quentin en Yvelines Velodrome.
Great Britain's Jack Carlin was also taken out in the crash.
At the time Shah was in a strong position to secure at least a bronze medal.