Kuala Lumpur: The Youth and Sports Ministry feels that the time has come for Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom to become the country’s main hope in track cycling and shine in future competitions. Its Minister, Hannah Yeoh, is confident that Muhammad Shah, better known as Shah Firdaus, has what it takes to take over the responsibility from Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang as the country’s number one track cyclist.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Hannah Yeoh expressed her belief in Shah Firdaus following his performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he successfully qualified for the final in the keirin event. “The time has come Shah Firdaus. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, we saw when Shah Firdaus was needed (in the keirin event) to receive the mandate from Malaysia. he did it (by qualifying for the final),” she said after officiating the 2025 ASEAN Sports ADR Forum at the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) today.
Also present at the event were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, Sports Commissioner Suhardi Alias, and AIAC chief executive officer Datuk Almalena Sharmila Johan. Hannah Yeoh highlighted her pride in Shah Firdaus’ recent achievement of winning the gold medal in the keirin event at the UCI Nations Cup in Konya, Turkiye. She also commended the performance of national woman track cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri.
“So, I want to encourage Shah Firdaus and Izzah Izzati to continue striving because coach John Beasley has provided a positive report of their potential and these two riders are now in the Road to Gold programme,” she added. In yesterday’s race, Shah Firdaus demonstrated a spirited performance by breaking away from four other riders and overtaking his rivals just metres before the finish line at the Konya Velodrome. This victory marked his first gold medal at a UCI event, representing the biggest achievement of his career so far.
The race saw Tokyo 2020 Olympic team sprint event bronze medallist Sebastien Vigier of France securing the silver medal, while 2025 Asian Track Cycling Championship (ATC) keirin champion Shinji Nakano of Japan claimed the bronze. Meanwhile, Nurul Izzah set a new national record in the sprint event, clocking 10.578 seconds in Konya, surpassing her previous record of 10.658 seconds set at ATC 2025 at the National Velodrome in Nilai last month.