Jupha Sonet won silver in the junior 500m time trial at the Asian Championships yesterday.
2010/04/15
Arnaz M. Khairul
arnaz@nst.com.my
MALAYSIA'S first medal from the Asian Cycling Championships in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates came from the most unlikely source -- Jupha Sonet in the junior women's 500m time trial.
That came on a day when the crack team sprint combination of Azizul Hasni Awang, Harrif Salleh and Rizal Tisin finished a disappointing fifth, when they were expected to be in the running to defend the gold medal they won last year.
Men's individual pursuit rider Akmal Amrun also failed to make the knockout stages, while Fatehah Mustapha, on paper a medal contender in the women's 500m time trial, also suffered the disappointment of finishing fifth in her event.
It was the first medal on the international stage for 17-year-old Jupha, who hails from Chuping, Perlis, as she clocked 39.972s to bag the silver behind South Korea's Lee Hye Jin, who clocked 36.698s, while Taiwan's Lin Chia Hui bagged the bronze (40.510s).
"I was confident of bagging a medal even if this was my first time competing at the Asian level," said Jupha, who turns 17 on April 26.
"This is the best birthday present I could give myself. I'm also happy to be the first to deliver a medal for the country in this meet, especially after the disappointment of losing out in the road race, in which I was also targeting a medal."
Jupha Sonet won silver in the junior 500m time trial at the Asian Championships yesterday.
Jupha Sonet won silver in the junior 500m time trial at the Asian Championships yesterday.
The team sprint must have been the biggest disappointment, especially since head coach John Beasley took a gamble in dropping Edrus Yunos on Tuesday, to be replaced by Harrif.
It didn't pay off, but Rizal accepted the blame for the dismal performance.
"We clocked a slow time. It was all my fault, as I had a bad start and on the opening lap I couldn't get myself close enough to be tucked in behind Harrif," said Rizal.
"I didn't have enough preparation for the standing start, so it all went bad. But it is okay for us to lose out and suffer disappointments some time, and better now, because we're just starting off our Olympic qualifying campaign. We'll have to improve from here on."
Rizal is on his first big assignment since returning to training following a broken ankle suffered in a freak hit-and-run accident last October.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/2hecsa/Article/index_html
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