HULU SELANGOR, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh is scheduled to meet national track cycling ace Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang today and she is expected to discuss the former keirin world champion's future and career direction.
Hannah said the 'Pocket Rocketman’, as the cyclist is nicknamed, had met the National Sports Council (NSC) and she too had held a brief discussion with the rider during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, at that time, she said the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist felt that he needed some space and time to reflect, think and sort things out.
"I am not sure what is going to be discussed today, but I come here with an open heart because he is an athlete who has contributed so much to the country.
"I want to see how we can continue to help him,” she said when met after officiating the opening and closing of the NSC-Yayasan MySkills Sports Clinic at the MySkills Campus in Kalumpang here today.
Last December, the 37-year-old was reported to have said that he would meet Hannah before deciding on his future.
Earlier, Mohd Azizulhasni confirmed that he will not be competing in the 2025 Asian Track Cycling Championships (ACC 2025) to be held at the National Velodrome in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan from Friday (Feb 21)-Feb 27.
However, he did not rule out the possibility of returning to action.
Meanwhile, Hannah said 120 at-risk youths are given skills training at MySkills Campus here but they lack exposure to sports activities.
"That's why the NSC came here today together with National Hockey Development Programme (NHDP) coaches and athletics coaches to unearth talent and this will be carried out periodically.
"Secondly, I have allocated RM50,000 from the minister's special allocation to be used for sports development at MySkills Foundation,” she said.
She added that she had also asked for assistance from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), the Satellite Centre of the National Sports Institute (NSI), to assist youths here in terms of strength and conditioning.
-- BERNAMA
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