| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam national cyclists Abdul Hadrie Morsidi and Amiruddin Haji Mohamad Amir have been selected to take part in the Asian Road & Para Cycling Championships which is scheduled to be held from February 24 to March 3 at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Abdul Hadrie will be competing in the Men’s Elite while Amiruddin will be taking part in the Under 23 event.
Brunei Darussalam national cycling coach Yafiz Jamaludin noted Abdul Hadrie and Amiruddin best performances in the Brunei Classics where they finished as the top two local riders earlier this year.
“It is only fitting that both the riders will be going there with a high level of performance to compete in the Asia stage,” said Yafiz in an interview with the media.
“In this Asian stage, we have been informed that there are countries with strong competitors such as Japan, Korea, China, Iran and Kazakhstan which can be said as countries that can dominate the Asian Cycling Championships.
“It is a platform for me to assess the effectiveness of the training so far,” the national coach added.
Abdul Hadrie (orange) and Amiruddin (black) preparing for the Asian Cycling Championships.
The head coach is setting his sights firmly on the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur and their Bahrain meet forms a part of the planning to see the performance of the riders.
“I do not put targets to win medals because this is a high-level championship. If we look at the gap between the other competitors and us, it is far apart because they are all professionals”.
Even though Yafiz explained that competing at the same level with the riders will be difficult, he said that the task is not impossible.
He estimated the current level of the riders at 85 to 90 per cent in terms of performance, adding that they could meet the 100 percent mark in Bahrain.
“It is not too difficult to increase the performance to 100 per cent but they must have sufficient rest because we will be experiencing a long journey.
“The individual time trial event in the SEA Games is not available, so I don’t want to prepare the riders for this event.
“Finishing Top 3 among Asean participants would be a good result. Obtaining Top 15 among Asian countries would be good enough for me.
“Winning a medal is a bonus,” said Yafiz.
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