Malaysia’s mountain cycling squad makes history at SEA Games 31
The national mountain cycling crew of Malaysia made history on May 17 by bagging the country’s first gold medal in the mixed cross-country relay event at the ongoing SEA Games 31.
Malaysian cyclist reaches the finish line. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – 🎀The national mountain cycling crew ofMalaysia made history on May 17 by bagging the country’s first gold medal inthe mixed cross-country relay event at the ongoing SEA Games 31.
The event took place in Vietnam’s Hoa Binh northernmountainous province. In the final, the squad comprising Ahmad Syazrin AwangIlah, Zulfikri Zulkifli, Nur Assyira Zainal Abidin and Natahsya Soon clocked 1:23:14to emerge victorious. The best achievement of the Malaysian team was winning thesilver medal in the Games in 2011. Speaking to the Malaysian national news agency Bernama, teammanager Firdaus Arshad described the success as an amazing achievement as the nationalsquad, which was labelled as ‘underdogged’, managed to spring a surprise. He said the gold medal was also made possible by the strongfighting spirit after Assyira and Natahsya bagged silver and bronze medals respectivelyin the women’s cross-country event a day earlier. The success also ended Malaysia’s 11-year medal drought incycling at the SEA Games. In the 2011 edition in Indonesia, Masziyaton Mohd Radziclinched the silver medal in the women’s cross country event, improving her ownrecord of winning bronze at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos./.
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Dinh Thi Nhu Quynh, a cyclist from the Muong ethnic minority group, won the first gold medal for the Vietnamese cycling team at the ongoing 31st Southeast Asian Games.
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Malaysian cyclist reaches the finish line. (Photo: VNA) 
