KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — National track cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom may have to skip the 2024 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Nations Cup after injuring himself following an accident while training at the National Velodrome in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, on Tuesday (January 23).
Shah Firdaus said he was supposed to leave for Australia on Saturday (January 27) but is still waiting for the coaches to decide whether he will be allowed to compete in the February 2 to February 4 meet in Adelaide.
If forced to skip the Nations Cup, the rider, nicknamed The Terminator Shah, will miss the chance to add more points for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“The initial plan was for me to only compete in the Nations Cup in Australia and Hong Kong in March to ensure I have more points for the Olympics so that I need not have to go to the Nations Cup in Canada in April.
“But if I cannot even make the early events, it will throw a spanner in the works for me. In terms of points for the Olympics, I have already qualified; just need to strengthen my position as the Olympic Qualifiers are still ongoing,” he told Bernama.
Speaking of the accident he was involved in, the 28-year-old said he was trying to chase after the motorcycle in front of him when the bicycle he was riding had a burst tyre.
Shah Firdaus injured his left shoulder and left thigh and has a swollen ankle, making it difficult for him to even walk.
“While riding, I heard a noise, and when I tried to negotiate a bend, the back tyre burst, and I fell. They (the coaches) rushed me to the National Sports Institute (NSI) in an ambulance.
“A scan showed nothing broken. But I am frustrated and concerned that I got injured at a critical time. But what can we do? The NSI doctors told me to just rest.
“I have been cleaning my wounds daily so that I can get well faster,” he said, describing the accident similar to the one that befell Datuk Azizulhasni Awang when he was preparing for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The 2024 Paris Olympics qualifying period for track cycling began on July 19, 2023 and will end on April 14.
For the record, Shah Firdaus clinched silver in men’s keirin at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Cairo, Egypt, in March last year before bagging silver in the same event at the International Belgian Track Meet in Ghent last April.
He also won bronze in the sprint and keirin events at the 2022 Hangzhou Asiad.
— Bernama
