PETALING JAYA: Ridwan Sahrom, brother of national cyclist Shah Firdaus Sahrom has advised Malaysians to refrain from attacking the Japanese cyclist, Shinji Nakano who was involved in the crash at the Olympic men’s keirin final.
In an Instagram post, Ridwan pleaded with Malaysians to not attack the other countries that were involved in the crash.
“In keirin racing, everything can happen. We cannot blame or judge on what happened, whether it is an accident or not.
“Please remain calm and do not attack or comment anything bad to the Japanese rider’s social media,” said Ridwan.
Many Malaysian netizens took to the comment section to thank Ridwan for his reminder.
“Thank you for the reminder. So many people do not have common sense when it comes to giving criticism, that it borders on cyberbullying. I also disagree with what the Japanese cyclist did but all those mindless comments are unwarranted, racist and calling out for violence towards him and Japan.
“Malaysian behaviour and mentality is so disappointing and embarrassing. We must do better for our own sake. After all, we are representing Malaysia,” said Instagram user nureddiina.
However, a few said that the reminder came a bit too late as Nanako’s Instagram posts have since been flooded with comments from enraged Malaysian netizens.
And several netizens rejected his reminder, saying Shah Firdaus deserved justice, as Malaysia could have won the bronze medal if it was not for the crash.
The 28-year-old national cyclist was sprinting towards the finish line when he was hit by Nakano, causing Jack Carlin of Great Britain to lose control and fall in the final round at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome.
Although match results initially showed Muhammad Shah finishing the race in fourth place, it was changed to relegated on the Games’ official website, resulting in a sixth-place finish.
