Fatehah Mustapa wants to prove that her exclusion from the 2018 Asian Games was a wrong decision.
The Malaysian track cycling queen was dropped by national head coach John Beasley and the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) after failing to live up to expectations at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, affecting her place in the Podium Programme at the same time.
Despite that, the 29-year-old, who has been training under national assistant coach Junaidi Nasir since she was dropped, believes she is still the top female cyclist in the country.
"All decisions were made by head coach John Beasley. Maybe he already evaluated my results during training and my performances in competitions and thought I was not as fit as before," she told Astro Arena.
"But, for me, even if he said so, I will continue to fight and prove that it is not right. I will prove that I am still number one in Malaysia."
Fatehah, who won a women's keirin silver medal at Incheon 2014, said she would be participating in three competitions after Hari Raya Aidilfitri, including the 2018 Track National Championship in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, in July.
The tournament would also see participations of Farina Shawati Adnan and Anis Amira Rosdi, who were picked by Beasley for the Asian Games in Indonesia — a fact that was not lost on her.
"I am confident [that I can beat them] based on my experience and the way I train, which might not be same as those training in Australia.
"Hopefully I will have enough time to prepare for the National Championship and win at the tournament.
"After that, I will try to participate in as many Grand Prix competitions as possible to get points to qualify for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup.
"For me, I do not care where I have to go to get those points," she added.
Seng Foo Lee
Tue Jun 12 2018
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