By Arnaz M. Khairul
NEGRI Sembilan cyclists broke a 25-year drought by winning their first Malaysia Games gold medals at Kuala Lumpur Velodrome yesterday.
A
mirul Anuar Jafri emerged the star for the state, surprising a strong field to bag the 15km scratch race gold.
The 19-year-old from Seremban then combined with Abdul Rashid Ibrahim, Mohd Fairet Rusli and Mohd Ekbar Zamanhuri to win the team pursuit gold as the state celebrated an unexpected victory, owing to the absence of hot favourites Terengganu.
Amirul, who is part of the national back-up squad, was in a tight battle in the final laps of the scratch race when the victory could have gone to any of a breakaway bunch of nine riders.
Terengganu's Sofian Nabil Omar Bakri and Mohd Zulhilmie Afif Ahmad Zamri were seen as the favourites, both being in the bunch with other teams represented by only single riders.
"Entering the final laps, I was sure that I had enough energy to take it to the finish and I was confident of being at the front right up to the final lap," said Amirul, who has since last year focused on being a full-time cyclist.
He surged well ahead of Kelantan's Mohd Al Ghazali Abdul Hamid who was second, crossing the finish line one second ahead while Sofian Nabil edged Zulhilmie for bronze.
"This is a very proud day for us as it is a first for our state, so hopefully this shows that with good development programmes and good coaches, the sport can grow in our state too," said Amirul.
The Terengganu squad, rocked by the rejection of the registration of five riders in their men's squad a day earlier, relied on their women to deliver what was expected to be the first of their targeted five gold medals.
All through qualifying and in the final of the women's team pursuit against Selangor, there was little doubt that Nur Ain Mahmood, Ummi Hamimah Mohamad and Zahraa Anuawar would emerge on the top step of the podium.
The final was a mere formality as the Terengganu trio posted four minutes 13.618 seconds, nine seconds ahead of Selangor's Nur Farah Ain Amran, Nursyamira Anis Saidi Ahmad and Nurul Ahmar Badeuzzaman.
"We were really pumped up for this. We remained focused as the Selangor trio were strong and even when we knew we were ahead we stayed disciplined and focused," said Ummi Hamimah, 16, who had her first taste of Malaysia Games glory.
Meanwhile, the five Terengganu cyclists ejected from the Malaysia Games were yesterday reinstated after an evaluation found a loophole in the regulations which allowed them to compete.
The quintet Saufi Mat Senan, Yusrizal Usoff, Shobry Abdullah, Faiz Syarifuddin Abdul Kadir and Nur Amirul Fakhruddin Marzuki however missed out on their targeted team pursuit gold medal.
The supreme jury of appeals meeting which ruled them eligible was only completed in the midst of the qualifying rounds for the event, but the team had entered the team sprint event and made today's final.
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