NILAI — National junior cyclist Sawda Hasbullah shattered the Asian junior record in the one-kilometre time trial to clinch Malaysia’s first gold at the Asian Track Cycling (ATC) Championships at the National Velodrome today.
The 17-year-old clocked one minute 10.818 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 1:12.722s set by Taiwan’s Liu Shang Ying in the qualifying round earlier in the day. Shang Ying settled for silver with 1:11.936s, while India’s Harshita Jakhar took bronze in 1:12.848s.
“I’m very grateful, Alhamdulillah. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy race, especially with the longer distance, but I was prepared and focused on the planned strategy,” Sawda told reporters after her victory.
She admitted that today’s triumph helped ease the disappointment of narrowly missing out on a podium finish in yesterday’s women’s keirin final, where she placed fourth.
Sawda’s gold medal adds to the national junior squad’s tally at the three-day 2025 ATC, bringing their total to one gold and two silvers—the latter won by the women’s sprint team on Friday and Nur Umairah Qhaisara Zulfikha Razak in the women’s keirin event yesterday.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s para track cycling team continued its stellar run at the 2025 ATC, securing two gold medals in the individual pursuit events—Mohamad Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin in the men’s cycle 1 (C1) category and Muhammad Adi Raimie Amizazahan in the men’s cycle 3 (C3) category. — February 23, 2025