Firdaus pays heavy price thanks to officials’ blunder

By SHAMSUL FITRI
PUTRAJAYA: A blunder by team officials saw junior rider Ahmad Firdaus Abdul Karim lose out on a medal in the individual time-trial event at the Asian Cycling championships in Putrajaya.
Firdaus, who was the 12th rider to start for the 25.6km time-trial yesterday, had his bike scrutinised by commissaires before he went for a warm-up session.
Instead of leaving his bike in the waiting area, he took it out for the ride, a move which meant his bike was again checked just before the race.
And he started almost a minute after his countdown to finish in sixth place in 35:46.003.
In full bloom: Vietnam’s Thi Bich Nhien Truong en route to a bronze medal in the junior time trial event at Putrajaya yesterday. — S.S. KANESAN / The Star
Leung Chun Wing of Hong Kong won the gold medal in 33:44.846 while Japan’s Hiroki Nishimura took the silver in 34:23.912. Robert Gaineyev of Kazakhstan settled for the bronze in 35:18.322.
“The incident disrupted my focus as this is the first time I’m competing in the Asian championships,” said the 18-year-old Firdaus.
“I panicked when I had my bike pulled away and I lost precious time there.”
National coach Graham Seers said they should have put Firdaus on another bike for his warm-up instead of the race bike.
“He could take the race bike for warm-up but it needs to be checked again before he goes onto the ramp,” said Seers.
Masziyaton Mohd Radzi, who was a replacement for the injured Mariana Mohamad in the women’s elite 25.6km event, finished in seventh spot in 40:08.759.
South Korea’s Na Ah-reum took the gold medal in 35:15.944 while Japan’s Minami Uwano came in second with 36:41.153. Wang Chui of China took the bronze in 37:01.792.
Mariana was injured during a selection trial two weeks ago in Putrajaya. She broke her left arm and injured her right knee after being hit by a car.
In the women’s junior 12.8km event, scratch (track event) silver medallist Noor Azian Maslin Sazali finished fourth in19:47.440.
Meanwhile, Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) president Abu Samah Abdul Wahab has defended the decision to drop sprinter Anuar Manan from the road race which will be held on Feb 18.
Abu Samah said Anuar should train regularly with the rest of the national team for the 180km race in Putrajaya for the coach to gauge his current form.
“I know he is a professional and has his own training programme, but Adiq (Hussainie Othman), who is also in the same professional team (Champion System) came to train with the rest ... so why can’t he?” said Abu Samah.
Anuar, the only Malaysian thus far to win a stage in the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) in 2010, was dropped on Monday ahead of Saturday’s race and the team management replaced him with Terengganu Pro-Asia’s Mohd Harrif Salleh.
Abu Samah believes Harrif is a capable replacement despite not training with the national team.
“Even though Harrif has not trained with the team, the coach (Syed Mohd Hussaini Syed Mazlan) was kept abreast of his progress as he is training with his team in Chiangrai,” said Abu Samah.
The three other riders in the national team are Amir Mustafa Rusli, Akmal Amrun and Mohd Zamri Salleh.