Incentives are not everything in sports - Azizulhasni

Incentives are not everything or the main thing in sports, including cycling but rather passion and focus to excel in the international stage were the main driving force said National elite track cyclist Mohd Azizulhasni Awang.

"To me, cash incentives is a bonus. If you go after performance, the money will come to you," said Azizulhasni, 29, also popularly known as ''The Pocket Rocketman'' by his fellow cyclists, especially the foreigners.

Azizulhasni said his main focus now was to win the world championship and the gold medal in the Olympics.

After having fulfilled a childhood dream of winning the keirin title at the UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Hong Kong on Thursday, the Terengganu lad said his next dream was to win a gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.

"If I wanted to become a millionaire, I would probably have taken up football or badminton but my dream is not to chase after money but to fulfill my dream and hoist Malaysian cycling on the world stage," he told reporters at the AirAsia headquarters at RedQ, here today.

He was asked to comment about the RM20,000 incentive he is set to receive under the Sports Excellence Incentives Scheme for winning the gold medal at the UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Hong Kong last Thursday.

Azizulhasni who had been dreaming of donning the ''Rainbow'' jersey as the world champion, is among athletes under the AirAsia sports, The #DARETODREAM, programme.

He also thanked AirAsia for supporting the sports industry in the country because the support from such companies would serve as an incentive and platform to unearth young talent.

Azizulhasni admitted that despite being ranked world number one in the keirin event earlier, his world ranking had dropped because he did not participate in major tournaments since he was preparing for the world championships this year.

Meanwhile, Azizulhasni welcomed the proposal by the National Sports Institute (ISN) to buy a Wind Tunnel to assist National cyclists to improve their performances.

"European countries have long been using the technology to progress and I am confident the installation of a Wind Tunnel here can maximise the chances of National cyclists to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," he said.

-- BERNAMA