Mohd Arfy Qhairant Amran, Jupha Somnet set to make their mark in the world of cycling
Mohd Arfy Qhairant Amran and Jupha Somnet of Malaysia are currently preparing for the world championships in Moscow in August 2011 and the Indonesia SEA Games three months later in November.
The two promising 18-year-old riders will join the likes of three elite cyclists Josiah Ng, Azizulhasni Awang and Fatehah Mustapa.
The deputy president of the Malaysian National Cycling Federation, Datuk Naim Mohamad said that they had a joint committee meeting with the National Sport Council. In the meeting, it was decided to rule out the seniors from the SEA Games in November.
Naim Mohamad said, “We are looking at the back-up riders for the SEA Games as the seniors have the duty to pick up Olympic ranking points at that time.”
The 2011-12 season will start around the same time. The first two rounds of the event will start in Kazakhstan and other one will start in Columbia.
“It is of course easy for our seniors to get medals in the SEA Games but we will not compromise our objectives for the London Olympics. It’s a chance for the back-up riders to fight for SEA Games glory and we want the promising ones like Arfy and Jupha to
benefit from the overseas attachment,” the president was quoted as saying.
In June 2011, the two riders Arfy and Somnet will participate in the Sukma Games in Malaysia. After that, they will leave for Melbourne. Mohd Arfy showed his potential in the Asian Championship in February 2011 after winning the sprint gold medal in the
men’s junior ranks.
Previously, Arfy also won two silver medals in team sprint and in the men’s 1-kilometre time trial race.
Jupha also showed an excellent performance in the stage as she won four silvers and one bronze in the women’s junior rank events.
The Keirin and team sprint events have been left out of the SEA Games despite the fact that it had a Velodrome. However, Malaysia can still be hopeful of winning the scratch, sprint and 500 metres time trail events.
Tags: