NILAI: National women’s backup track cyclist Khairunnisa Aleeya Saifulnizam pulled off a pleasant surprise by dominating the women’s elite Scratch race in the ASEAN Track Series 1 (President’s Cup) at the National Velodrome, here today.
The 20-year-old showed off her sprinting prowess by breaking away from the rest of the riders in the middle of the race and lead her way to the finish line.
The 2024 Malaysia Games (2024 SUKMA) gold medal winner in the women’s highway cycling event in Sarawak overcame Singapore’s Valencia Tan who won silver while South Korea’s Kim Minjeong took the bronze.
The women’s Scratch event involves a 40-lap race of 10 kilometres (km). More interestingly, the rider from Kota Tinggi, Johor, also sprinted past experienced rider Nur Aisyah Muhamad Zubir who had competed in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Nur Aisyah finished in fourth spot.
Khairunnisa admitted that today’s achievement was indeed beyond her expectations, not to mention that she has only been in the national squad for a year.
“In today’s performance, I tried and seized the opportunity to use my strength to break away from the other riders, I tried to make a splash in the remaining 20 laps.
“After SUKMA, today’s achievement can be considered the next level for me but I have a long way to go and I can only use the experience of competing in the President’s Cup to learn,“ she said when met by reporters after the race, here.
She also confirmed that she will participate in the second series of the championship on Jan 18 and 19, also held at the National Velodrome, here, including racing in the women’s Omnium event.
After winning the women’s elite sprint race yesterday, Olympian Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri added her second gold, this time from the women’s elite keirin event, beating two South Korean representatives, Kim Haeun and Cho Sunyoung, who won silver and bronze respectively.
Meanwhile, Kang Seojun emerged as the men’s keirin champion beating two national riders, Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis and Mohd Akmal Nazimi Jusena who took the silver and bronze.
