| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam’s national cycling team secured third place in the OCBC Cycle Speedway Southeast Asia (SEA) Championship after clocking a time of 21:05.10 at the Singapore Sports Hub in Singapore recently.
The national team held ambitions to win the championship but unfortunately luck did not favour them, according to national cycling coach Yafiz Jamaludin.
“The strategy that we have implemented we only lost out narrowly on during the finishing acceleration,” said the national coach whose team trailed runners-up Malaysia who finished 21:05 and winners Philippines who posted a time of 21:04.90.
“The riders this year are more challenging because it involved eight teams compared to six teams last year.
“Even though we failed to win a medal at the SEA Games, we will definitely continue our quest as a team and continue to be motivated to achieve success in various competitions that we took part in,” said the national coach.
“With this success this can slowly lift up our spirits to continue and fight to enhance the image of the country,” he continued.
Yafiz shared that there is no confirmation but still remain hopeful to be enlisted in two major international competitions next year namely the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
The head coach underlined that it is his plan to take part in these competitions.
“Training overseas and races at a higher level is needed in a higher level tournament to enhance the performance and capability of the rider,” Yafiz added.
The head coach underlined his plans to train in Australia with the Australia national team and guided by the Australian Institute of Sport if they are listed to the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games next year.
“My hope is that more cyclists will come to train with the national team in order to produce the best rider from the best. I also hope to be given the trust to train and guide the Brunei national team,” concluded the head coach.
Each team had to complete 10 laps over a 1km course, with the first pair of riders performing five laps before being replaced by the second pair for the remaining five laps.
Each team’s timing is taken when their second cyclist crosses the line.
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