“We don’t want Mohd Firdaus talent to go wasted,” said the Deputy President of Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF), Datuk Naim Mohamed.
His statement was regarding the decision of 19-year-old track cyclist Mohd Firdaus Mohd Zonis who has expressed his intention to retire from the professional track cycling.
Datuk Naim said MNCF will have a discussion with Mohd Firdaus, who seems to have lost the desire to continue competing, due to difficulties with injuries.
“I myself will look at this as soon as possible. We will see how MNCF can help him to recover from the injuries and regain his confidence because we don’t want a talent like him gone just like that.
“Every sport athlete will be exposed to injuries. Sometimes the injuries only affect the athletes physically, but sometimes it affects them mentally.
It’s like a cycle; sometimes we are on top, sometimes we’re at the bottom. As long as he wants to continue cycling, he will be back on top again,” he said to Utusan Malaysia during a sponsorship pledge for ASEAN Cycle Fest 2015 and OCBC Cycle KL 2015, yesterday.
Mohd Firdaus is touted as the heir to replace Azizulhasni Awang after impressing on the international stage, winning a bronze medal in the 1km Time Trial at the World Junior Track Cycling in South Korea and three gold medals in the 1km Time Trial, Sprint and Keirin at the Asian Junior Championships, last year.
In addition, he had also won three gold medals through the 1km Time Trial, Sprint and Keirin at the Asian Junior Championships 2013 in New Delhi.
WHAT DO WE THINK?
It is a good decision for MNCF to persuade Mohd Firdaus from retiring. He seemed to be lacking in confidence and lost his desire to race again and in need of a moral support. There are sports people like him who gave up in the early stages of their career because of injuries. But at the age of 19, that is a long way to go. He should not even thinking of retiring and only focused to recover from injuries and came back stronger. Work hard to recover and improve your abilities because you can be as good as Azizulhasni, or even better. Hope you will be back, Firdaus.
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