JAKARTA: The national track cycling squad could not consolidate their record breaking feat in the team sprint event as they went down to China in the final of the discipline at the Indonesia Asian Games on Monday.
The team had earlier smashed the Games record after clocking 43.934 seconds in the qualifiers.
They, however, could only manage a slower 44.598s in the final which allowed China to grab gold in 44.160s. Japan settled for bronze.
Silver is still a commendable achievement by Azizulhasni Awang, Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Fadhil Mohd Zonis.
National coach John Beasley said he was proud of his charges' achievement in an event he did not expect to yield a medal.
"I am very proud with their achievement even though it is a silver," said Beasley.
"We were close to the gold but luck was not on our side in the race. I still consider this medal as a bonus for us.
"I believe we will improve on our weaknesses and give our best in our main events such as the individual sprint and keirin."
Beasley added that this is the first time the sprint team have won a medal since he took the reins.
Malaysia won a solitary bronze through Josiah Ng in the keirin at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.