Japan dominates the 2022 Malaysia International BMX Championship
NILAI: Japan’s prowess in BMX bicycle racing proved difficult to challenge when four of its riders today won gold medals at the 2022 Malaysia International BMX Bicycle Racing Championship at the National BMX Arena here.
Fresh from winning gold at the 2022 Asian BMX Cycling Championship (ACC BMX) which ended yesterday, sensational rider Ryo Shimada was in a class of his own when he once again topped the Under-23 (B-23) category.
The 22-year-old athlete brushed aside the challenge of Fasya Ahsana Rifki from Indonesia who took home silver, while national representative Saniy Syahmi Mohd Safiee had to settle for bronze.
“Obviously I’m very happy with today’s success. The pressure is still there, plus I just won the ACC BMX 2022 gold medal yesterday, so for sure some other riders will want to beat me in today’s race.
“These two tournaments taking place in Malaysia are very important for me to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The points collected in these two tournaments give me more opportunities to compete in the Olympics later,” Shimada said in Japanese, which was translated when met here. today.
In addition to Shimada’s success, Japan also took home the gold medal in the junior men’s category through Hyoga Kiuchi, Jui Yabuta (U-23 women) and Kanami Tanno (elite women).
In the meantime, Thai rider Komet Sukprasert once again displayed energetic cycling when he grabbed the gold medal in the men’s elite category, while two Indonesian riders Gusti Bagus Saputra and Yussi Wakhidur Rizal grabbed silver and bronze respectively.
Meanwhile, Malaysian riders did not go home empty-handed when Eddyna Nasuhar Zainal Abidin won the women’s B-23 bronze medal, thus repeating her achievement of finishing third at the ACC BMX at the same venue, yesterday.
The gold medal of the event was won by Japanese rider Jui Yabuta while South Korean rider Kim Taeyoung took silver.
“Yes, I’m still happy even though I only won a bronze medal. If compared to yesterday’s performance (Saturday), I can feel that today’s performance is much better because I competed fiercely with South Korean riders.
“I want to focus on the Malaysian Games (Sukma) next month to represent Terengganu and improve the record where in the 2018 edition in Perak I managed to get second place, hopefully after this I can grab a gold medal,” said Eddyna Nasuhar.
source – BERNAMA
