Indonesia 2018: Malaysia’s double delight

The Malaysian Para cycling team has saluted its national sports day with two gold medals at the Jakarta International Velodrome on the final day of the Indonesia 2018 Asian Para Games.

After China claimed the first three golds of the morning, Malaysia won the women’s B 1km time trial when Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais blitzed the field with the final ride of the competition.

Mohd Zais’ guide Nurul Suhada Zainal said Malaysia would be very proud of the gold medal performances on the last day of Games.

“I do it for Malaysia because today in Malaysia is national sport day so, I do for the Malaysian government and for all the people,” Zainal said.

“The strength of our partnership is our heart and our pride for our country.

“We are very excited about the medals and we are dedicating all the gold for the Malaysian day of sports.

“We have only been partners for two to four months, so we are practicing to go to the Paralympics in 2020 and we do not have any goals yet for Tokyo 2020 but we are training for it.”

The final race of the schedule was an absolute cracker.

The capacity crowd was treated to a high standard exhibition of track cycling in the men’s B 1km time trial. The final five riders out did each other before the last competitor, Malaysia’s Muhammad Afiq Afify Rizan, took gold with a superb ride in a new Games record time of 1:03.942.

He pipped teammate Aiman Asyraff Ahmad Bajuri who claimed silver and was also under the previous Games record time.

Earlier in the day, China claimed the first three gold medals in the men’s C1-3 1km time trial, men’s C4-5 1km time trial and the women’s C1-3 500m time trial.

Japan’s Shota Kawamoto finished with bronze in the men’s C1-3 1km time trial.

“For the 1km race as long as I claimed a medal it was an achievement so, this result is good for me,” Kawamoto said.

“For this big competition, I am quite satisfied with all of my medals because I have never been in a big competition like this before.

“For the Tokyo [2020] Paralympics I aim for the gold medal so I will try my best. It is home for me and it is my usual environment so, I think that will allow me to relax and do my best in each race.”