Sabah’s Waldron sprints to gold
Published on: Monday, May 20, 2019
By: GL Oh
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s Waldron Chee won his first gold at the international stage with a first place finish in the men’s junior scratch race at the Taiwan International Track Cup, Saturday.
The 16-year-old rode under the Cycology Sabah Racing Team banner, and in only his second international appearance, crossed the finishing line in the UCI Class 1 track championship just ahead of local riders Hsu Yu-kai and Wu Ping-hua in the 10km distance race held at the Kaohsiung Velodrome.
ADVERTISEMENT
Chee, who won a bronze in the boys’ junior individual pursuit at the Asian Cycling Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia in January, was caught by surprise with his win.
“I was expecting only a podium finish because I realised before the race that I was up against two very good riders from Hong Kong and Taiwan that I had competed with in the Omnium event at the Asian Championship in Jakarta.
“To be able to win the gold was beyond my expectations and this is the best result I’ve achieved so far, I hope there is more to come as my main focus is on the World Juniors in Germany, August and also the Asian Championships in South Korea, October,” he said.
Fellow teammate Bong Yong Xian finished in eighth place in the same event while in the team sprint, they missed the podium by finishing in fourth place.
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, the team coached by Louis Pang and trained at the National Velodrome in Nilai continued to shock the field on Sunday with Bong grabbing a second place finish in the junior scratch race ahead of Waldron in third place.
The only female rider in the team Chika Cherryca Chia also did well to finish fourth in the junior sprint race while Lim Chun Kiat despite his eighth place finish in the men’s Omnium was the second best rider from South East Asia.
ADVERTISEMENT
He even finished ahead of Singapore’s SEA Games gold medallist Calvin Lim and only two places below the Thai Asian Champion.
Louis Pang who had earlier said their goal in participating was to gain experience was delighted with the achievement of his young riders.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
“It was definitely not bad for a group of pursuiters! We raced with guts and fearlessness. It was a good lesson for us as a team, as we also made some mistakes working outside our comfort zone. However, we managed to fix it and aim to come back even better.
“We are very happy and grateful to be here and winning medals was a bonus. There are more races to come and there is always a chance to win more, “ he added.