TOP cyclist Azizulhasni Awang has said it is better for him to go “home” and train in Melbourne if he cannot get the training support system as promised by the National Sports Council (NSC) in his quest for another Olympic medal in Paris next year.

Taking a swipe at “several individuals” in NSC over several unfulfilled promises, Azizulhasni – who won the bronze in the individual keirin in his debut Olympic in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and the silver in the same category in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – said for a world-class, high-performance athlete like him, training in Melbourne, as it is now, is more effective than what he is getting in Kuala Lumpur.

The 2017 keirin cycling world champion, in a posting in his Facebook to clarify his demands to NSC and the guarantees it gave to entice him to switch his training base back in Malaysia, stated the situation he is in now made him regret returning to Malaysia.

“It is not worth it… it is like moving backwards,” he said.

“It is better for me to train there (in Melbourne) and only go home to train with the team in Malaysia for training camp or specific training as practised by multi-sport athletes in Europe.

“There, I can train in peace without much distraction, especially the politics sport. It’s very easy for me. If I can’t get a good support system, it’s better for me to go home and train in Melbourne.

“There is only one year left before the Paris Olympics 2024. It’s not that I don’t like being in Malaysia, but for a world-class athlete like me, training in Melbourne (for now) is more effective.”

He said when NSC persuaded him to switch his training base back to Malaysia, “I don’t mind going home, as long as the support system in Malaysia is equal or better than in Melbourne”.

He said for a full year before he returned to Malaysia, “there were many discussions with me and my representative” on what his needs are.

Unfortunately, the guarantees and promises made were not fulfilled, he said, as he slammed the “several individuals” as being “very unprofessional” as the training equipment he was given.

He claimed there have been up to 10 meetings after his return and still the promises that were given were never kept.

“Very disappointing. Very unprofessional (for them) to keep things hanging for such a long time,” he said.

Azizulhasni said the current episode he is going through was not the first time that “this has happened to me”.

“It has happened many times,” he said.

Azizulhasni said his allowance in Melbourne was delayed several times, occasionally by up to a year.

“Imagine not being paid for a year,” he said.

Azizulhasni said at the time, he was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics and he only received the allowance after he complained to the then minister of youth and sports.

After the complaint, he said, “like magic I received the payment suddenly only after a few days.

“If an elite athlete like me has to suffer like this, imagine the other athletes.”

Such a treatment, he said, is clearly reflected in Malaysia’s performance in the recent SEA Games in Cambodia.

He said the root cause of the dismal performance could not be placed on the shoulders of the athletes.

He said moving back to Malaysia was also an emotional decision as it meant uprooting his family.

“It is not an easy decision as it involves my children and my wife,” he said. – June 8, 2023.