Kedah Trio Clinch Fifth Women's Team Sprint Title In National Track Cycling Championship

NILAI, June 9 (Bernama) -- National women's track cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri led Kedah’s trio to garner the elite women's team sprint event title for the fifth consecutive time at the 2026 National and National Youth Track Championships at Nilai National Velodrome, today.

The Kedah trio, comprising Nurul Izzah, Nurul Nabilah Mohd Asri and Nur Fitrah Shaari, recorded the fastest time of 50.912 seconds (s) to win the event and thus defended the title won by the state in the previous edition.

The silver medal went to Selangor through Yong Ann Tung, Yong Ann Yii and Yeong Zhen Yi who recorded a time of 52.626s, while the bronze went to the Terengganu team comprising Dahlia Hazwani Hasyim, Ameera Alla Md Zahiruddin and Nur Aerin Wadhiah Mohd Adni in 53.181s.

Nurul Izzah said the success was meaningful considering that Kedah only had one national squad rider compared to the main contenders such as Selangor and Penang which had several national athletes.

“Alhamdulillah, today we got the gold medal for Kedah. We managed to record a time of 50 seconds and that is a good result for us. We knew that the competition this time would be tough, so I am very grateful with the result,” she told reporters after the race here today.

Meanwhile, Nurul Izzah said the tournament was also an important arena to collect International Cycling Union (UCI) ranking points to realise her dream of competing at the Shanghai World Championships, China this year.

She said that every point collected was important to ensure that her position was more comfortable in the world rankings ahead of the qualification process for the prestigious tournament.

“My target this year is to collect enough points to qualify for the World Championships. So every point earned is very important,” she said.

Meanwhile, Selangor emerged as the champion of the elite men's team sprint event after the trio of Muhammad Darwish Hakim Zain, Yung Liang and Muhammad Fadhli Mohd Zonis recorded the fastest time of 46.847s.

The silver medal went to Johor through Mohamed Faris Hilman Mohamed Farook, Ahmad Daniel Harb Alhaj Ahmad Rifaie and Ahmad Zharif B Ahmad Nazar who recorded a time of 46.971s, while the bronze went to Negeri Sembilan, with the line-up of Muhammad Luqman Haqim Al Badrun, Fiqh Harim K. Fazil and Muhammad Zafrul Mohd Syukry in 49.349s.

Muhammad Fadhli said the success was achieved as a result of his team's consistent performance as well as successfully taking advantage of the absence of several elite Johor riders who had previously been among the main contenders in the event.

“Of course we took the opportunity as Johor did not field some of their elite riders this time, but at the same time we still have to give our best because the competition is still fierce.

“What is important is that we focus on our own performance and successfully execute the race plan well to win gold,” he said.

-- BERNAMA