KUALA LUMPUR – National track cycling high-performance director John Beasley has put in place protocols and procedures to avoid another disastrous tyre malfunction incident from ever happening again.
“The incident is very concerning, especially when it happens to my two best athletes at crucial times.
“It is about preparation and some things were overlooked. We have addressed the issue and I don’t want to go further into it.
“When I was the coach and mechanic of the team, I did not have any issues with the tyre,” said the Australian after the Sime Darby Foundation Women and Girls in Sports Forum, here today.
Beasley added that one way to avoid a tyre malfunction from happening again is to invest in the education of the mechanics in the national set-up.
“But moving forward, we’ve got some protocols and policies in place that we have had to write up a list of what needs to be checked.
“We are going back to old-school education on how I want things to be done, so I know it was never intentional, but it has happened twice and it is unacceptable.
“There is a list of standard operating procedures now, and they know what they are responsible for, and I’ll hold them accountable to it,” said Beasley, adding there are no concerns about the quality of the tyres that the national team utilises.
Last month, Shah Firdaus Sahrom was involved in a high-speed crash while training to compete at the recently concluded Nation’s Cup in Adelaide, Australia.
The cause of the crash was due to a tyre failure while Shah was chasing behind a motorbike.
He suffered injuries to his left shoulder, thigh, and ankle, which prevented him from qualifying for the individual sprint event in Adelaide.
Earlier, in September of last year, Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang also suffered a high-speed crash in training due to a tyre failure.
Azizulhasni suffered soft tissue damage and contusions, which ruled him out of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. – February 6, 2024