Dato'Muhammad Azizulhasni AwangDPMTKMNAMN (born 5 January 1988) is aMalaysian professionaltrack cyclist based inMelbourne, Australia.[3][4] Nicknamed "The Pocket Rocketman" due to his small stature, he is the first and only Malaysian cyclist to win a medal at theSummer Olympics.[5] He is also the first Malaysian to have competed in the Olympics five times.[6]
Azizulhasni was Team Malaysia's nationalflag bearer at the2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. He won his first World Championship medal in2009, a silver medal in theindividual sprint.[7] His debut Olympic medal came at the2016 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze in theindividual keirin.[8]In the2020 Tokyo Olympics, he won a silver medal in the same category ofindividual keirin.[9]
In 2017, he won his firstWorld Championship title in the keirin,[10] and became the first Malaysian to ever wear the covetedrainbow jersey.[11]
Competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics in theMen's keirin qualifier, he was disqualified for cycling ahead of thederny motorbike used as a pacer before it left the track. National track head coach John Beasley called it a monumental mistake, and said: "The rule is clear and we were more than one length in front and it didn't give me any room to argue about it.[12]
Azizulhasni was born inDungun,Terengganu,Malaysia to his biological parent Awang Embong and Rokiah Husin. He is the eighth of nine children in his family and was adopted by Mustafa Ngah and Selamiah Yong.[13][14] Azizul took up cycling at 10 years old, and was later discovered by his first coach Rozimi Omar who had advised him to stop skateboarding and focus on cycling.[15][16]
He was thankful to his late father for giving him a bicycle as a reward after he obtained 4A 1B in hisUPSR.[17] Azizul received his primary education at Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu 48 and continued his secondary studies at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Omar in Dungun. After his PMR examination, he received three offers fromMRSM, Science School and theBukit Jalil Sports School. Ultimately chose to transfer to national sport school inBukit Jalil as his interest in cycling and also due to his ambition to be a physician or an athlete at that time.[citation needed]
Azizul moved toAustralia in 2007, settling inMelbourne.[3] He had also majored in sports science (Bachelor of Sport Movement) atVictoria University (VU).[18] In 2015, he became the first non-Australian athlete to receive aBlue Award from Victoria University.[19][20]
Azizulhasni won the gold medal in2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships[21] and silver medal in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in keirin. He won the silver medal at the2009 World Championships in the sprint category and the silver medal at the2010 World Championships in the keirin category. He was named Malaysian Sportsman of the Year in 2009 and 2010.[19]
In February 2011, Azizul was involved in a crash during the final of the keirin event in theWorld Cup leg in Manchester where he suffered serious injury when a 20 cm wooden splinter pierced through his leg. He was ruled out of the World Championships that year.[22]
At the2017 Southeast Asian Games Azizul was the 111th gold medal winner, achieving Malaysia's gold medal goal after emerging champion in the men's sprint category at the National Velodrome inNilai. Azizul was also the flag-bearer for Malaysia at the2017 Southeast Asian Games alongside diverCheong Jun Hoong and silat exponent Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari.[23][24]
Dato' Azizul marriedTo' Puan Athiah Ilyana Abd Samat on 30 January 2010.[13] The couple areAustralian permanent residents and live in Melbourne with their four daughters.[3][25]
Team sprint (withJosiah Ng andMohd Rizal Tisin) Keirin
Malaysia :_-_SMN.svg)
Member of theOrder of the Defender of the Realm (AMN) (2016)[27]
Officer of theOrder of the Defender of the Realm (KMN) (2017)[28][27]
Terengganu :
Knight Commander of theOrder of the Crown of Terengganu (DPMT) –Dato' (2021)[29][30]...who is based in Melbourne since 2007.
| Olympic Games | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Flagbearer for MalaysiaBeijing 2008 | Succeeded by |
 Silver |  | |
|---|---|---|
 Bronze | ||
 UCI Track Cycling World Champions –Men's keirin | |
|---|---|
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