National cyclist Muhammad I'maadi Abd Aziz will kick off his Commonwealth Games campaign in the track event today.
I'maadi will compete in both the Point Race and Scratch over the next two days at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland. The Bruneian received his bike on Tuesday and has since gone through a total of six hours of training over three days before taking an easy warm up session for race day yesterday.
I'maadi told The Brunei Times that the carbon track bike he was given to ride for the race was better than the aluminum bike he was issued in previous events. The 22-year-old is only focusing on the velodrome right now and will only start training on his road race event (Mass Start) on Monday.
"I need to keep practicing on the track... Hopefully I will get used to it," said I'maadi. "You can't push yourself that drastically now or else you'll just get worse. "I have seen a lot of professional riders here, I am kind of excited to race with them... It's going to be a good experience for me," noted I'maadi.
I'maadi went on to add that everything should be fine as the weather isn't too cold since it is summer. In a previous report, I'maadi said that he was aiming to finish in the top 20 at the Games.
Prior to the Commonwealth Games, I'maadi took the opportunity to train at the 2014 Under-23 Road Training Camp at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland, in March for three months.
I'maadi's last competition saw him finish in 10th place in the men's Under-23 road race event during the May 21-26 Asian Cycling Championship (ACC) in Astana, Kazakhstan. Brunei's cyclists were the best finishers among the ASEAN countries in the competition, finishing sixth among the Asian countries.
The Sultanate became a member of the Commonwealth in 1984 and established their National Olympic Committee, Brunei Darussalam National Olympic council (BDNOC) the same year, though the nation would only go on to take part for the first time in the 1990 edition in Auckland, New Zealand.
This will be the seventh time the country will compete in the Games. The previous Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India saw Brunei send a total of 11 athletes - six men and five women - to take part in lawn bowls.
The men competed in the singles, pairs and triples while the women rolled away in the pairs and triples.
