NILAI – Malaysia’s cycling champion Datuk Azizulhasni Awang is rallying athletes in the Road to Gold programme to collectively shoulder the responsibility of winning medals at the Paris Olympics in July.
Azizulhasni, who will be making his fifth appearance at the world’s largest sporting event, has already voiced his initial goal of bringing home a gold medal, even though the Malaysian contingent has not yet announced its official target.
Famously known as the Pocket Rocketman, Azizulhasni sees this as a way to reciprocate the government’s support after providing all assistance through the RTG programme.
RTG is an elite sports programme in Malaysia established with the aim to win gold medals at the 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Among those in the programme besides Azizulhasni are his teammate Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Mohamad Aniq Kasdan (weightlifting), and a lineup of badminton players including men’s doubles Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, women’s doubles Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah, and mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.
“If you ask me, everyone listed in the RTG programme is a contender (for gold medals) because that is the real purpose of RTG.
“Everyone receives allowances equally and all get the extra services they request, so all athletes in the programme have to deliver because not everybody who qualified for the Olympics is eligible to enter the programme.
“We need to know our responsibilities. We have been given additional allowances, and the government, through Hannah Yeoh (youth and sports minister) has made this programme better than the previous one.
“Now that we are in this programme, we have to give our best performance,” said Azizulhasni.
‘Succeed or not, we must give our best’
The Terengganu-born athlete also emphasised the need for all athletes to reawaken to the original goal of their inclusion in this programme, which is to secure Malaysia’s first gold medal at the Olympics and ending the nation’s 68-year wait.
He considers it a waste if athletes selected for this programme only seek to gain experience at the Olympics, even if it marks their first appearance in Paris.
Instead, he suggested that every athlete in this programme should set high targets to strive for, aiming to improve upon them if they get the chance to compete for a second time at future Olympics.
“Whether we succeed or not is another matter, but we must give our best – both during training sessions and on competition days.
“For me, it’s not fair if we go to the Olympics and out of all the athletes listed, only one or two are considered gold medal contenders.
“I don’t mind because I’m already used to such situations, and I’m already a seasoned athlete.
“But I still think it’s unfair because there are many athletes listed in RTG. We need to know the programme’s purpose, and I believe all athletes know it because we have signed contracts and have been briefed.
“So I hope everyone has the same mentality, and not go to competitions expecting someone else to be the pillar,” he added.
In Tokyo 2020, Malaysia only managed to secure one silver medal contributed by Azizulhasni and one bronze medal achieved by Aaron-Wooi Yik.
This tally was slightly lower compared to the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro where Malaysia harvested four silver medals – three from badminton and one from diving by Cheong Jun Hoong and Datuk Pandelela Rinong – along with one bronze medal, contributed by Azizulhasni, marking it as Malaysia’s best Olympic achievement since 1956. – April 26, 2024