THE unwise behaviour of Malaysian netizens, who flooded Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano’s social media with disrespectful comments, has left the athlete questioning his perception of Malaysians.
“I thought Malaysians were nice.”
This was the message Nakano sent to Malaysian cyclist Shah Firdaus Sahrom after being attacked by Malaysian keyboard warriors on his social media account.
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Shah Firdaus found the incident embarrassing for Malaysia, especially since he and Nakano are friends, and clarified that the apology supposedly from Nakano’s TikTok account was fake.
“Last night, he messaged me, saying he was being attacked on his social media. When I checked, there were tens of thousands of comments.
“I hope netizens stop attacking him on his social media because it also affects us,“ he said.
“He didn’t mean to crash into me. There was a collision, body contact, which is normal in keirin, and he didn’t intend to ‘hit’ me; it was due to the G-force.
“When there’s body contact, the G-force makes it look like he pushed me, but that’s normal in keirin. It’s just about whether you fall or not,“ he explained.
According to him, Nakano did express an apology, but it was directly to him.
“That’s not his (Nakano’s) TikTok account. He told me after the race that people made up stories on TikTok. But he and I are fine; we have no issues.
“What made me feel bad is that he thought Malaysians were nice because I’ve always been nice to him. When I go to Japan, he takes me around. When he feels like this, I feel guilty.
“He messaged me, saying he thought Malaysians were nice, and I felt ashamed,“ he stated.
The 28-year-old national track cyclist was sprinting towards the finish line when he was hit by Japanese rider Shinji Nakano, causing Jack Carlin of Great Britain to lose control and fall in the final round at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome just a while ago.
Although match results initially showed him finishing the race in fourth place, it was changed to relegated on the Games’ official website, resulting in a sixth-place finish.
In the keirin final at the Velodrome Saint Quentin en Yveline, Shah Firdaus was in a strong position to at least win bronze before the collision with Nakano caused him to fall.
