Sunday, August 5, 2012

Keirin Azizul's last hope, disaster for Hup Wei, Noraseela

AZIZULHASNI Awang had to, for the second consecutive Olympics, settle for eighth place in the men's sprint at the London 2012 Velodrome on Sunday.

Azizul was reduced to the fifth-eighth place playoff after having had to accept that Jason Kenny was in a class of his own after the Briton produced two outstanding races to send the Malaysian packing in the quarter-finals.

Azizulhasni Awang is Malaysia's last real medal hope in the London Olympics.

Though Azizul's two races showed he had put much thought into how to match Kenny, the Beijing Olympic silver medallist proved just why he had been picked ahead of defending champion Chris Hoy by British coaches for the sprint.

Azizul also failed to improve on his eighth-placed finish achieved in Beijing in the fifth-eighth race and will be hoping for better luck in the keirin, which will be contested on Tuesday.

The keirin is Malaysia's last real chance of adding to the silver Lee Chong Wei won in the men's singles at the Wembley Arena on Sunday, although there is still hope that diver Pandelela Rinong will produce something remarkable in the 10m platform on Wednesday.

Lee Hup Wei's best jump in the qualification was 2.16m.

There was disaster in track and field, where Jamaica's Usain Bolt retained his 100m title with a 9.63s run at the Olympic Stadium, as men's high jumper Lee Hup Wei and women's 400m hurdler Noraseela Khalid failed to use the opportunity to set national records.

Hup Wei produced a best jump of 2.16m when he needed to register 2.26m to qualify. It was a poor effort considering that the Malaysian's national record is 2.27m.

Noraseela didn't have much to be happy for after finishing last in her 400m hurdles heat.

Noraseela also had an outing to forget, clocking 1.00:16s in heat two to finish last in the field of nine athletes. Her national record is 56.02s.

Hup Wei and Noraseela were in London as wild card entries.

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