MALACCA'S Mohd Naim Suardi sprang the biggest surprise at the SportExcel Road Cycling National Junior Circuit I in Kangar yesterday. The 14-year-old bagged a sensational victory in the Under-16 time trial.
Naim, the younger brother of Melbourne-based national junior squad
trainee Firdaus, upstaged all the national back-up, academy and sports
school trainees in the 18.4km run against the clock.
Having only begun training with the new Malacca development squad
since last September, Naim's first victory came as a boost to the squad
under coach Fairoz Izni Abdul Ghani.
Naim clocked 27 minutes 15.970 seconds to beat Tengku Mahkota Ibrahim Sports School (TMISS) trainee Mohd Hisyamudin Jaafar to victory, while Selangor's Pelapis trainee Mohd Firdaus Mohd Zonis finished third.
Malacca received another surprise when 17-year -old Aimi Iwasaki Mohd Moritoshi, who was a swimmer before switching to cycling three months ago, bagged a surprise second place in the Under-18 girls' time trial.
Aimi clocked 31 minutes 0.44 seconds over the 18.4km course, a minute and 24 seconds slower than winner Nur Farah Ain Amran of the Pelapis Selangor squad.
But Aimi was also 19 seconds faster than favourite Nurul Nadia Mohd Fauzi of Pahang, giving the national junior rider a wake-up call as she prepares for the Malaysia Games in June, where Nurul Nadia is heavily tipped to be among the favourites.
"These results showed that we are heading in the right direction and
with sufficient support, we can do as good a development programme in
Malacca as anywhere else," said Fairoz.
"Naim is one of our biggest prospects and with his elder brother already among the top juniors in the country, he has a lot of motivation to move forward.
"Here Naim proved that he is one to look out for in the future. He's only 14 and is already beating established juniors in the under-16s, so that says a lot about his potential."
The circuit continues today with road races in all four categories.
RESULTS (All 18.4km individual time trial) -- Boys' Under-18:
"Naim is one of our biggest prospects and with his elder brother already among the top juniors in the country, he has a lot of motivation to move forward.
"Here Naim proved that he is one to look out for in the future. He's only 14 and is already beating established juniors in the under-16s, so that says a lot about his potential."
The circuit continues today with road races in all four categories.
RESULTS (All 18.4km individual time trial) -- Boys' Under-18:
1 Mohd
Firdaus Abdul Karim (Pelapis) 25:53.65s,
2 Badrul Hakimi Hamid (Ter)
26:21.05s,
3 Mohd Nadzmi Zakari (Ter) 26:25.07s,
4 Mohd Ameen Ahmad
Kamal (Mal) 26:41.00s,
5 Mohd Nasrullah Ismanizam (Ked) 26:53.44s;
Under-16:
Under-16:
1 Mohd Naim Suardi (Mal) 27:15.970s,
2 Mohd Hisyamudin
Jaafar (TMISS) 27:17.090s,
3 Mohd Firdaus Mohd Zonis (Sel) 27:29.960s,
4
Aiman Nasrq Sahludin (ASZU) 27:30.590s,
5 Mohd Amirul Amran (TMISS)
27:34.390s;
Girls' Under-18:
Girls' Under-18:
1 Nur Farah Ain Amran (Sel) 29:36.15s,
2 Aimi
Iwasaki Mohd Moritoshi (Mal) 31:00.44s,
3 Nurul Nadia Mohd Fauzi (Pah)
31:19.49s,
4 Noor Azian Maslin Sazali (Sab) 31:35.04s,
5 Rosnina Minggu
(Swk) 31:37.91s;
Under-16:
Under-16:
1 Nur Jeha Iwani Roslan (Ked) 31:18.44s,
2 Sean Wilson (KL)
31:18.80s,
3 Nursuriani Mohd Noh (Ked) 31:36.70s,
4 Farina Shawati Mohd
Adnan (Sel) 31:39.38s,
5 Nuratika Fatiha Abdul Latif (TMISS) 32:18.40s.
By Arnaz M. Khairul
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