MALAYSIA track cycling squad started the day with a brilliant finished when they took the gold medal in the scratch race held at National Velodrome in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan on Sunday (27 August).
It was delivered by the 22 years old Irwandie Lakasek who won the 60 laps race ahead of arch rival, Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn and Thanawut Sanikwathi, both of Thailand.
The Thais duo settled with a silver and bronze respectively.
It was a dream come true for the Terengganu rider who dislayed a fantastic performance throughout the race which saw him leading by one lap.
The cheers from the local crowd really boosted his spirit although the Thais duo tried very hard to block him from making a break through.
But, Irwandi was smart and managed to find his way out from the trap set up by his rival.
Then the race was belong to him and fought all the way to finishing line.
“The victory was a dream come true for me. My mission is only to win the race and I did it in a very fantastic way.
“It’s a tough race and my rival really gave me a strong challenge but I managed to avoid their efforts to block my way.
“We never expect to win the race because this evemt was not targetted for gold medal, but today i delivered it,” said Irwandi.
The other Malaysia rider who competed in the race was Muhammad Afiq Huznie Othman but he only managed to finish fourth.
The last time Malaysia won the gold in the event was at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia through Mohd. Hariff Saleh.
After Indonesia the event was not included at the SEA Games.
