Malaysian rider wins keirin gold in Asian Games
Mohd Azizulhasni Awang handed Malaysia a gold medal on the final day of the 2010 Asian Games track cycling competition at the Guangzhou Velodrome on Wednesday.
The Malaysian topped the keirin final, which was marred by a crash that left two riders injured. Another Malaysian Josiah Ng claimed the silver medal while China's Zhang Miao came in third.
Awang became the first Malaysian cyclist to win a gold medal in the Asian Games since Ng Joo Ngan won the individual road race and the late Daud Ibrahim triumphed in the 1600m mass start at the 1970 Bangkok
Asiad.
A crash occurred in the eight-lap keirin final when Chinese rider Zhang Lei tumbled onto the track, tripping Iran's Mohammad Parash in the process. Parash was carried off in a stretcher while Zhang did
not suffer any serious injuries. Zhang Lei won the men’s sprint gold earlier in the day.
"Crashes happen often. It's the nature of the competition. I almost fell too but I was lucky to avoid it," Ng told the Associated Press. The crash in the keirin event took place just a day after a similar
incident happened in the women's points race, leaving several riders with bruises and broken bones.
In the men's points race, Vladimir Tuychiev of Uzbekistan won the gold medal. He scored 71 points in the 120-lap race with 12 sprints. Hong Kong's Wong Kam Po bagged the silver medal with 60 points while
Iran's Mehdi Sohrabi placed third.
China won both the men's and women's sprint finals. Zhang Lei outpaced Japan's Tsubasa Kitatsuru in the men's sprint final. Another Japanese Yudai Nitta took bronze after beating Awang in the third-place
race-off.
In the women's race, Guo Shuang defeated compatriot Lin Junhong in the final. Hong Kong's Lee Wai Sze beat South Korean Kim Wong-yeong in the bronze medal race-off. It was Lee's second medal of the meet
after winning the 500m time trial on Saturday.
China topped the track cycling competition with five golds, two silvers and four bronze medals. South Korea finished second with a 2-1-0 harvest.
Hong Kong (1-4-1) placed third while Malaysia (1-1-0) ranked fourth. Other countries that won medals were Uzbekistan (1-0-0), Japan (0-2-1), Iran (0-0-2), Thailand (0-0-1) and Chinese Taipei (0-0-1).
Meanwhile, the road events in cycling will get underway on Saturday. The first events that will be contested are the men's and women's time trials. The men’s and women’s road races will be held on 22
November and 23 November, respectively.
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