ACC 2023: Fadhil finally ends gold drought, Izzah wins silver

NILAI - National cyclist Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis finally managed to end his seven-year wait for a title on the Asian stage, when he topped the 1 kilometre individual time trial (ITT) event at the Asian Track Cycling Championships (ACC) 2023, today.

The 25-year-old rider clocked one minute and 00.559 seconds in the final at the National Velodrome here, to end Malaysia's drought of more than a decade for the title, after Mohd Edrus Yunus' success in the 2012 edition at the Kuala Lumpur Velodrome, Cheras.

The silver and bronze were won by Ronaldo Laitonjam (1:00.863s) from India and South Korea's Woorim Choi (1:01.541s).

Fadhil, who made his ACC debut since joining the national elite squad in 2016, dedicated the victory to his late father, Mohd Zonis Mokhtar, in conjunction with Father's Day which was celebrated yesterday.

"I was quite emotional after winning (the race), remembering my late father who died in 2019 and my younger brother who is 50-50 after a recent accident. My father has been the pillar of my career development, and I have wanted to win this medal for him for a long time, which I finally achieved now.

"When he (his father) was sick, most of the time I was in Melbourne (undergoing training), unable to be with him. I also remember his message a few days before he died, he asked me to continue the training camp to Germany even though he already knew his time had come," he told reporters after the medal presentation ceremony.

Fadhil, who had to settle for the silver medal in the 2020 edition in Jincheon, South Korea and in 2022 in New Delhi, India, said he also took inspiration from his two senior riders, Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, who won gold and bronze respectively in the keirin yesterday.

Meanwhile, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri's energetic ride to break the women's 500m ITT national record with a time of 34.226s was not enough to defend her gold medal in the event.

The pint-sized 19-year-old rider had to settle for the silver medal, while Jiang Yulu (33.426s) from China and Japanese rider Aki Sakai (34.273s) took gold and bronze respectively.

Izzah's time today rewrote the national record of 34.542s belonging to former national rider Fatehah Mustapa, which she set at the 2017 SEA Games, at the same venue.

"Although I am a little sad at not being able to win gold, I'm still grateful for breaking the national record and winning silver. Maybe the ACC competition is getting tougher, but I will continue to work hard to improve my performance," she said. - BERNAMA