YAFIZ JAMALUDIN believes Bruneian cyclists can challenge for honours at the regional level.
The newly-appointed head coach of the national cycling team has been in charge since late December, and the Malaysian likes what he is seeing.
“They’re not good, not great, they’re excellent!
“After coming here and watching the cyclists go through their fitness and endurance tests, I can see there are some with more talent than cyclists in Malaysia,” said the coach yesterday.
“With the proper training, support and exposure, I am sure they can achieve success — and they already have the self-confidence to do so.
My target is to make Brunei competitive at the regional level,”added the 29-year-old. “I have a responsibility towards the team and I want to prove to Brunei than I can lead the team to success and be a quality coach.”
An ex-national and state cyclist for Malaysia and Selangor, the Selayang Baru native holds the distinction of being the only full-time coach to be hired by the Selangor State Sports Council (MSNS).
He stopped cycling for country and state in 2004 when he began a degree in sports science with a major in coaching at Universiti Malaya.
Though he was in charge of all three levels — elite, senior and junior — at MSNS, he focused most of his attention on the elite team. He also worked part-time with the National Sports Council of Malaysia (NSC), where he helped nurture the development team.
During his past three months in charge of the Brunei national set-up, Yafiz has been guiding a squad of 21 cyclists — five in the elite team, 11 in the Sukma team and five in the junior team.
Introducing a systematic training regiment, he has already seen improvements in terms of their time and commitment levels.
However, it is not all smooth sailing.
Cycling is a sport which relies heavily on state-of-the-art technology for results, and Yafiz insists that Brunei is lagging behind when it comes to this.
“From what I see, Brunei is developing and has the capability, but what we lack is the technology,” he said.
“We are five to ten years behind and the bikes we use are not up to date. If compared with Malaysia, the cyclists are using 2010 bikes but Brunei is using 2007 bikes. There are even Malaysian cyclists using 2011 bikes now, that is how advanced the technology is.
The national team’s first big test under Yafiz will be the Asian Cycling Championships in Sarjah, United Arab Emirates from April 8-17, where they will participate in the road race.
Yafiz added that the main events the national team are eyeing this year are the 2010 Sukma in Melaka, Malaysia from June 10-19 and the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China from Nov 12-17.
Despite the progress Yafiz has already made, he does not want his charges to believe they can achieve instant success– without a lot of hard work.
Brunei’s last international outing was at the 15th Asian Mountain Bike Championships and inaugural Asian Junior Mountain Bike Championships in Melaka last November.
The country’s sole competitor in the men’s elite downhill race, Mohd Raihaan came in last in a field of 24 riders with a time of 3:48.32.
By comparison, the winning time of Indonesia’s Popo Ario Sejati was 2:39.498 – more than a minute ahead of Mohd Raihaan.
Latest by The Brunei Times:
- BDFone to unveil 3 phone models
- Winner plans to market software to local artistes
- 18 youths detained in ‘Operasi Lepak'
- India's Independence Day flag hoisting on August 15
- TAP counters operating hours in Ramadhan
