National track cycling ace Mohd Azizulhasni Awang will have two bites at the cherry as he goes for gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July.

Having already qualified for the keirin event, "Pocket Rocketman" Azizul (above) is now assured of going for glory in the sprint event as well.

This will be Azizul’s fourth straight appearance in the Olympics, having last featured at the 2016 Rio Games where he won bronze in the keirin event.

According to the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) latest world ranking, issued on their website, Azizul rose five spots to fifth place in the sprint event with 2,415 points.

The recent UCI Track Cycling World Championship in Berlin, Germany was the last Olympic qualifying tournament and, based on the UCI format, the top seven riders in keirin and sprint events qualify for the Olympics.

National rider Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, however, failed to qualify for Tokyo after being placed 15th (1,687.5 points) in sprint and 40th (1,102 points) in keirin.

So far, 11 Malaysian athletes have made the cut for the Tokyo Games.

The other 10 are artistic gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi; sailors Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (men’s laser standard), Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif (women’s laser radial), Nuraisyah Jamil and Juni Karimah Noor Jamali (women’s international 470), men’s recurve archer Khairul Anuar Mohamad; divers Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Wendy Ng Yan Yee (women’s 3m springboard), Pandelela Rinong Pamg (women’s 10m platform) and her partner in women’s 10m platform synchronised, Leong Mun Yee.

- Bernama