PETALING JAYA: With the Commonwealth and Asian Games campaigns over, cyclist Rizal Tisin is ready to take on a new challenge as the Olympic qualifying campaign gets under way with the first leg of the Track World Cup in Melbourne on Thursday.
Rizal, who bagged the first cycling medal for Malaysia at the Commonwealth Games with his silver medal ride in the 1km time trial last month, will shift his focus to the omnium event, which is the cycling equivalent of decathlon in athletics.
Omnium will make its debut in the Olympic programme in London in 2012 and Rizal has been identified as the best candidate to take up the challenge to make history as the first Malaysian qualifier by then.
Rizal Tisin Each rider must compete in and complete all five events – 200m flying time trial, 5km scratch race, 3km individual pursuit, 15km points race and 1km time trial.
Points are awarded in reverse order, with the winning rider of each event getting one point and the rider with the lowest number of points overall will be adjudged the winner.
It will be another challenge for Rizal, who started out as a sprinter and ended a two-decade long drought by winning gold in keirin at the 2006 Asian Championships in Kuala Lumpur.
With the emergence of Azizl Hasni Awang in keirin, Rizal switched to the 1km time trial and he brought it to a new level altogether by winning the Asian Championships and World Cup last year.
Rizal also made another big breakthrough by claiming the country’s first medal at the World Championships in Poland last year with a bronze in the 1km time trial.
A hit-and-run accident delayed his rise to the top but he made a successful comeback at
the Commonwealth Games.
The 1km time trial was not contested at the Asian Games and Rizal competed in the team sprint and team pursuit.
“The 1km time trial is not contested in the Olympics any more and coach John Beasley wants me to focus on the Olympics. The World Cup this weekend will be my first full involvement in the omnium. I also did the omnium at the Asian Championships in Sharjah earlier this year but I did not complete it,” said Rizal.
“But I managed to win the sprint and time trial ... so the coach feels I can excel in it. I will give it a try as the chances of making it to the Olympics are better compared to sprint and keirin.”
The five top ranked riders from the Asian continent will go through for the omnium but it is only one rider per country for sprint and keirin.
“To win the omnium, you’ve got to be good at sprinting, time-trial and bunched racing,” said Rizal.
The World Cup this weekend is the start of four legs offering qualifying points for the London Olympics, together with the World Championships in Melbourne next March.
The remaining legs are in Cali, Beijing and Manchester.
Rizal, who bagged the first cycling medal for Malaysia at the Commonwealth Games with his silver medal ride in the 1km time trial last month, will shift his focus to the omnium event, which is the cycling equivalent of decathlon in athletics.
Omnium will make its debut in the Olympic programme in London in 2012 and Rizal has been identified as the best candidate to take up the challenge to make history as the first Malaysian qualifier by then.
Rizal Tisin Points are awarded in reverse order, with the winning rider of each event getting one point and the rider with the lowest number of points overall will be adjudged the winner.
It will be another challenge for Rizal, who started out as a sprinter and ended a two-decade long drought by winning gold in keirin at the 2006 Asian Championships in Kuala Lumpur.
With the emergence of Azizl Hasni Awang in keirin, Rizal switched to the 1km time trial and he brought it to a new level altogether by winning the Asian Championships and World Cup last year.
Rizal also made another big breakthrough by claiming the country’s first medal at the World Championships in Poland last year with a bronze in the 1km time trial.
A hit-and-run accident delayed his rise to the top but he made a successful comeback at
the Commonwealth Games.
The 1km time trial was not contested at the Asian Games and Rizal competed in the team sprint and team pursuit.
“The 1km time trial is not contested in the Olympics any more and coach John Beasley wants me to focus on the Olympics. The World Cup this weekend will be my first full involvement in the omnium. I also did the omnium at the Asian Championships in Sharjah earlier this year but I did not complete it,” said Rizal.
“But I managed to win the sprint and time trial ... so the coach feels I can excel in it. I will give it a try as the chances of making it to the Olympics are better compared to sprint and keirin.”
The five top ranked riders from the Asian continent will go through for the omnium but it is only one rider per country for sprint and keirin.
“To win the omnium, you’ve got to be good at sprinting, time-trial and bunched racing,” said Rizal.
The World Cup this weekend is the start of four legs offering qualifying points for the London Olympics, together with the World Championships in Melbourne next March.
The remaining legs are in Cali, Beijing and Manchester.
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