KUALA LUMPUR: Nurul Izzah Izzati Asri escaped serious injuries after crashing in the women's keirin at the UCI Nations Cup in Konya, Turkiye on Sunday (March 16).
Izzah's hopes of making the final were dashed after she made contact with Trinidad and Tobago's Makaira Wallace and crashed during her first round repechage at the Konya Velodrome.
The two-time Asian keirin champion had earlier placed fourth in her opening round heat.
National cycling programme technical director John Beasley said Izzah was taken to hospital for evaluation after the crash.
"We had taken her to hospital but she is now back at the hotel and is resting," said Beasley after the race.
"She is a little bit sore but she is fine. She is a tough young woman."
Izzah's teammate Nurul Alyssa Farid finished fifth in her opening round heat and was fourth in her repechage group. Only the winner advanced.
In the men's individual sprint, Shah Firdaus Sahrom did well to clock a new personal best of 9.481 seconds over 200 metres to place 10th in the qualifying round.
The time bettered his previous personal best of 9.635s at the Paris Olympics last year and was not far off the current national record of 9.402s set by Azizulhasni Awang at the Paris games.
Shah, who won the men's keirin gold on Saturday (March 15), went on to beat German Maximilian Dornbach in the first round but lost to Frenchman Sebastien Vigier in the second round.
Beasley said Shah was still fatigued from the keirin event.
"It was very hard for him to back up (keirin performance) in the sprint. After the (keirin) prize presentations he had to go for drug testing and the conditions inside the track were dry and warm," said Beasley.
"So of course he was dehydrated and we only got back to the hotel at 11.15pm. I felt really tired during the sprint qualifying round so I can only imagine how he must have felt.
"But still, I am very proud of his big day in the keirin."
Shah's victory in the keirin was seen as a breakthrough performance as the Muar-born had never won gold in a major international event previously.
The 29-year-old has yet to fully recover from tendonitis in his right knee which he picked up during a strength training session early last month.
