PUTRAJAYA: To their disappointment, the national mountain biking squad were forced to settle for fourth in the cross country relay (XCR) category at the Asian Championships here today.
Malaysia claimed that a rider from Kazakhstan had pushed aside Nurshamimie Suzana Ismail twice during the race which was held at Taman Cabaran Putrajaya.
National coach Nor Alfizar Othman filed a protest though it was rejected by race officials and Kazakhstan were presented with the bronze medal.
Kazakhstan finished third with a cumulative time of two hours, three minutes and 37 seconds, just five seconds ahead of Malaysia (2:03:42s).
As expected, China won the gold by a country mile (1:51:36s) while Indonesia (2:00:02s) claimed silver.
Nurshamimie, 18, said it was an eye-opening experience on her Asian Championships debut.
The other Malaysian riders in the team were Ahmad Syazrin Awang Ilah, Syawal Mazlin, Effan Wafiy Nor Effandy, Phi Kun Pan and Nur Fitrah Shaari.
"The first time he (Kazakhstan rider) pushed me was at the bump, which was further up in the trail, but I did not yield," said Nurshamimie.
"The second time was closer to the finish, which was a stronger push that shook my handlebar and threw me off balance.
"This is my first time competing in the Asian Championships and while I expected the competition to be stiff, I did not expect these kind of tactics."
Alfizar admitted that she was disappointed with what happened.
Malaysia had targeted a medal in the XCR event.
"According to the rules, the rider should have been disqualified, you are not allowed to use your hands to push away another rider," said Alfizar.
"I myself witnessed the incident together with some riders from another country. However, when we protested we did not have enough strong evidence as there was no marshal there nor any video of the incident.
"It is disappointing, however, we will not give up. We will continue to fight, we want to win at least one medal here."
Alfizar is hoping her riders will be able to challenge for medals in the men's and women's under-23 events as well as junior events later this week.