KUALA LUMPUR: Sports analyst Datuk Dr Pekan Ramli would prefer to see track cycling great Azizulhasni Awang move into a mentoring or development role rather than continue racing.
Azizulhasni's status at the moment remains a question mark. He has long said that he would retire from the national team after the Paris Olympics, which ended last month.
The 36-year-old's Paris campaign, however, ended on a sour note after being disqualified from the keirin, his pet event. A number of parties subsequently urged him to reconsider his plans to retire but Azizulhasni at the time said he needed time before being able to make a decision.
The Ballerup World Championships is now just over three weeks away (Oct 16-20) though it is unknown whether Azizulhasni will play a role, either as a rider or supporting the team on the sidelines.
"If you are not ready, why would you want to go to the world championships? This is something the rider must decide himself," said Pekan recently.
"If his heart is not in it (as a rider), there is the risk that he could lose in the early rounds and get criticised. This is an aspect he needs to consider.
"I do not think it is not about whether Azizulhasni can still race or not. He has already achieved so much with his bronze and silver Olympic medals (2016, 2020) as well as his keirin world title (2017).
"The sporting authorities should sit down with him and really discuss what his plans are for the future.
"I believe he can play a bigger role in developing our riders for the future, starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
"He himself has expressed interest in helping develop cycling and even other sports and I think that is very exciting for Malaysia as he has a wealth of experience and knowledge in high performance sports."
Azizulhasni underwent open heart surgery in April 2022 in Australia to correct a coronary artery anomaly he had suffered from since birth but came back stronger than ever last year.
He is currently in Melbourne with his family. The Dungun-born had been based in Melbourne from 2007 until the start of last year as Malaysia did not have the required facilities and competitions for high-performance track cycling previously.
Besides Shah Firdaus Sahrom, who reached the keirin final in Paris, Malaysia has a number of promising younger riders such as Shah's brother Ridwan, Fadhil Zonis, Umar Hasbullah and Ahmad Safwan Nazeri coming up the ranks who could potentially fill the void left by Azizulhasni.