World keirin champion Azizulhasni Awanghasni has an indisputable love and passion for cycling.
As he revealed to the media a couple of days ago, the reason he chose cycling is because of his passion for the sport and his dream to hoist Malaysian cycling on the world stage.
To help meliorate his cycling training and nurture younger track cyclists in the country, the world champion has welcomed a proposal by the National Sports Institute to buy a wind tunnel for track cycling practices.
The wind tunnel will cost RM 30 million to install, and it will help track cyclists to improve their performance and bolster their training.
This purchase will be done in line with the National Sports Intitute’s efforts to groom and prepare athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“European countries have long been using this technology to progress and I am confident the installation of a wind tunnel will be very beneficial for our cyclists.” Azizulhasni told Bernama.
Over the years, wind tunnels have been proven to help improve athlete’s performance, be it in cycling or running. According Drag2Zero, every cyclist riding at an average of 40 km/h will have 2kg of drag pulling them backwards.
To overcome the drag, athletes can either work harder, or use the wind tunnel, which is specifically designed to reduce drag and help to improve performance.
In fact, many amateurs and world champions have been training with the wind tunnel, and they have recorded at least 20% improvement in their performance.
Sounds like a good investment for the National Sports Institute. Hopefully we’ll churn out more world track cycling champions after purchasing the wind tunnel?
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