National track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang bounced back from semi-final disappointment to win the men’s individual sprint bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games at the Izu Velodrome on 1 October.
The rider known as the Pocket Rocketman beat Thailand’s Jai Angsuthasawit 2-0 in the bronze-medal ride-off to give Malaysia another medal, according to FMT.
Azizul, 38, had earlier lost both of his semi-final rides to China’s Li Zhiwei and missed the final. Japan’s Kaiya Ota beat Li 2-0 in the title race to keep the gold medal, The Star noted.
The oldest rider in the field leaned on his experience in the third-place playoff. Azizul had qualified third fastest in 9.467 seconds on 30 September, behind Ota and Li, then beat host rider Kanata Takahashi 2-0 in the quarter-finals to reach the last four.
The result is his fifth career Asian Games medal. He owns two Asian Games titles among them, keirin gold at Guangzhou in 2010 and individual sprint gold at Jakarta in 2018, where he won the same event he finished third in today.
Azizul reached Shizuoka in strong form. He took sprint bronze at the Japan Track Cup II at the same velodrome in May, and won keirin gold plus sprint bronze at the World Cup final leg in Nilai in April. National technical director John Beasley said after that meet: “This is a strong field as some of the best sprinters made the trip to Japan and it just proves again why Azizul is a different breed of athlete. He is not at his best yet but was still able to race smartly against younger competitors.”
His beaten opponent in the bronze ride-off carries a title of his own, having won the Asian Games keirin in the past.
The individual sprint is decided over qualifying laps against the clock, after which the field is cut to a knockout bracket raced over two wins. Azizul’s third-fastest qualifying put him in that bracket, and he has taken every heat since except the two rides against Li.
Teammate Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom, the other Malaysian in the sprint draw, went out in the second round, leaving Azizul as the only Malaysian left in the competition.
The keirin, set as his favourite event, runs on 2 October. Riders pace each other behind a motorised derny before the last sprint for the line, giving the Malaysian another shot at a medal with the squad already on the podium twice.
Malaysia’s track cycling squad has already collected a silver in the women’s team sprint and a bronze through Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri in the women’s keirin.
The women’s individual sprint also keeps Malaysian interest alive, with Nurul Izzah and Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid both through to the quarter-finals. Nurul Izzah beat Hong Kong’s Ching Yin Shan and Nur Alyssa downed Taiwan’s Liu Shang-ying in the second round.
