TOKYO: Track cyclists Azizulhasni Awang and Shah Firdaus Sahrom got off to a good start at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as they both progressed to the last 32 of the men’s sprint event today.
Azizulhasni clocked 9.626s to finish the qualifying round in 17th place while Shah Firdaus ended up in 23rd spot with 9.700s.
A tricky task awaits Azizulhasni in the next round as he will face reigning champion Jason Kenny of Britain while Shah Firdaus will go up against Harrie Lavreysen of Holland.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Hoogland rode to a new Olympic record of 9.215s to smash the mark set by Britain’s Jack Carlin just 20 minutes earlier.
Carlin had earlier broken his compatriot Kenny’s old mark of 9.551s that was set in the qualifying round of the 2016 Rio edition.
The top 24 out of 32 riders qualified for the knockout rounds to be held later today.