Wedding bell rings as Azizul reaches final round

By Arnaz M. Khairul

MARRIAGE is on Azizul Hasni Awang's mind as he approaches the final round of the UCI World Cup in Beijing on March 22-24.A week after he returns from the assignment, the 22-year-old Azizul and fiancee Athiah Ilyana Abdul Samat, 24, will perform their akad nikah on Jan 31.

"We're just performing the akad nikah, but our wedding ceremony will only take place in December, after I'm done with the Commonwealth Games," said Azizul.

Azizul will represent his BT Australia trade team in Beijing, leaving the team sprint duties in the national team to the new combination of Edrus Yunos, Josiah Ng and Hafiz Sufian.

Asked about his focus leading up to the meet, Azizul said he is far from distracted by the proximity of the event to one of the most important days in his life.

"Cycling is cycling and marriage is marriage. We have to have a balance. On the bike, cycling is all that's on my mind. Once I'm done with Beijing, I'll put my focus on personal matters," said Azizul.

Azizul won three events at the Tasmanian Christmas Carnival last month and is on a hot streak of form leading to the Beijing round of the World Cup.

"After the Tasmanian event, I just maintained my form with a lot of ergonomic and strength training in the gym.

"Only this week, we'll be training on the track and then head straight to Beijing," said Azizul.

Azizul, the World No 1 in the keirin the previous season, enters the final round ranked fourth after a slow start to the season.

The World Championships 200m sprint silver medallist is ranked 13th with just the Beijing round and the World Championships in Copenhagen in March remaining on the calendar.