KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — Two national track cyclists — Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri — have been identified as the country’s best bets at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) president Datuk Amarjit Singh Gill said this puts the national track cycling squad as their focal point at the quadrennial multi-sports games.
“We will make a selection (of cyclists) for the road event, but our main focus is on the track,” he told reporters here yesterday.
The 2026 Asiad will be held from Sept 19 to Oct 4 in Aichi-Nagoya.
Muhammad Shah Firdaus, nicknamed “The Terminator”, had bagged three medals at previous Asian Games, including a silver in the team sprint in 2018, followed by two bronzes in men’s sprint and keirin at the 2022 edition.
The 29-year-old is enjoying the best phase of his career as he is now third in the world ranking for men’s elite sprint and won the gold medal in the men’s keirin at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Nations Cup in Konya, Türkiye, last month.
The win by the Johorean in Türkiye marked his first gold medal at a UCI championship and is the biggest accomplishment of his career to date.
National track cycling queen Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri has been dubbed ‘Pocket Rocketwoman’. — Picture via X/Bernama
Nurul Izzah Izzati, also known as “The Pocket Rocketwoman”, on the other hand, did exceptionally well at the Asian Track Cycling Championships (ATC) 2025 in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.
The 21-year-old Kedahan bagged two golds, one silver and one bronze, while setting both national and Asian records in the individual sprint, team sprint and one kilometre time trial at the ATC 2025.
Amarjit also said MNCF was pleased to see that both Muhammad Shah Firdaus and Nurul Izzah Izzati were among 16 athletes listed in the Road to Gold (RTG) Programme in preparation for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
“We hope they will get all the full support from the RTG programme. I think the decision is right,” he said. — Bernama
