Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Leigh Hoffman has had a measure of revenge for his keirin silver medal, knocking Azizul Awang out of the sprint at Commonwealth Games track cycling.
The Australian beat the Malaysian great two heats to nil on Saturday night (AEST) in their quarter-final.
The men’s sprint was supposed to be one of the biggest events at the Games. But English rider Matt Richardson, who stunned the sport by defecting from Australia days after the Paris Olympics, pulled out after a keirin crash earlier this week in Japan.
Awang, nicknamed the Pocket Rocketman, used plenty of track craft in an effort to throw off the Australian.
Hoffman was too strong and surged past Awang for clear wins in the two heats.
Awang, one of the world’s top keirin riders, won the event on day two despite Australia having half the field in the six-man final.
Hoffman finished second and joined English bronze medallist Harry Ledingham-Horn in hoisting Awang on their shoulders after the medal ceremony.
The mutual respect continued after their day-three sprint quarter-final, with Awang acknowledging Hoffman’s win.
Earlier, Hoffman broke the flying 200m Games record as he qualified fastest in 9.361 seconds.
Fellow Australian Tayte Ryan is also through to the semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Canadian Tyler Rorke.
But Danny Barber lost 2-0 to Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul, another favourite for the sprint gold.
Also on day three of the track program, Australian Kane Perris and his pilot Luke Zaccaria lost their tandem sprint semi-final to Wales.
Elimination gold medallist Blake Agnoletto, individual pursuit champion Oli Bleddyn and fellow Australian Tom Cornish comfortably made it through qualifying for the scratch race.
