KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Mohamad Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin (pix) created a sensation when he managed to clinch bronze at the ongoing Para-Cycling Road World Cup in Adelaide, Australia.
What makes his achievement all the more remarkable is that the 27-year-old becomes the first Malaysian para cyclist to win a medal at the prestigious event.
Mohamad Yusof produced an energetic ride in the road time trial event to clock 21 minutes and 33.17 seconds (s) to finish third behind Spain’s Ricardo Ten Argiles (21.32.27s) and Germany’s Pierre Senska (21.32.27s).
The week-long Para-Cycling Road World Cup ends on Wednesday (Jan 17).
In the meantime, national para cycling squad head coach Sallehudin Mohd Noh said the success achieved gave Mohamad Yusof the opportunity to collect qualifying points to book a slot for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
“Yusof has been given hope to hunt for a slot at the Paris Paralympic Games 2024. At the beginning of the race, the coach reminded Mohamad Yusof to focus on this race,“ he said when contacted by Bernama today.
He said Mohamad Yusof will once again be in action in the road race tomorrow.
In order to qualify for the Paris Paralympic Games, Mohamad Yusof needs to obtain at least 1322.5 qualifying points with only one slot available for Malaysian riders to the prestigious games that will take place from Aug 28 to Sept 8. -Bernama
