It is a first for any Malaysian cyclist to win a medal at the pinnacle of all sporting events.
Despite the race having to be interrupted twice when the judges called out an infringement, Azizulhasni remained calm to keep pace with the two frontrunners, Jason Kenny of Great Britain and Matthijs Buchli (Holland).
Kenny, who won the gold in London four years ago, defended his title with a time of 10.113 seconds and Buchli was a close 0.04 seconds behind, while Azizulhasni was 0.045 seconds behind the silver medallist.
This result is a major improvement for Azizulhasni, besides winning the medal, as he finished sixth in London 2012.
The pocket rocket, as he is nicknamed, is also the only Asian rider to make it past the first round in the keirin event, let alone reach the final.
Earlier, the race had to be interrupted at two junctures when brothers Kenny and Joachim Eilers of Germany had respectively lapped the pace setter.
This brings Malaysia’s medal tally to one silver and one bronze with a potential for two golds, or two more silvers, at worst, with the badminton men’s doubles and mixed doubles already in their respective final matches.
This makes for the best ever outing by the Malaysian contingent at the Olympic Games.
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