Danial Hakim Wins Malaysia's First Gold at 2026 Asian Cycling Championships

Malaysia Has a New Track Cycling Star

Danial Hakim Zulkaski, an 18-year-old from Sarawak, has claimed Malaysia’s first gold medal at the 2026 Asian Track Cycling Championships. Competing in the men’s junior elimination race at the Tagaytay City Velodrome in the Philippines on 27 March, Danial controlled the race from the front, surviving every elimination round to emerge as the last rider standing.

South Korea’s Kim Se-won took silver, while Hong Kong’s Yau Chung Ming earned bronze.

The gold is significant beyond just a medal. It ends a 12-year wait for a Malaysian male junior cyclist to stand on top of the Asian Championships podium — the last was Mohd Firdaus Zonis, who swept triple gold in the sprint, keirin, and 1km time trial at the 2014 edition in Astana, Kazakhstan.

A Strong Week for Malaysian Juniors

Danial’s gold was not an isolated result. A day earlier, Nur Umairah Qhaisara Zulfikha Razak won silver in the women’s junior sprint, falling to South Korea’s Park Hyerin in the final but proving that Malaysian junior development is producing riders who can challenge at continental level.

The junior women’s team sprint squad also picked up a bronze medal behind South Korea and India, further underscoring the depth of the programme.

Malaysia’s Full Campaign in Tagaytay

The 45th Asian Track Cycling Championships brought nearly 600 riders from 16 nations to the Tagaytay City Velodrome — a newly built UCI-standard indoor facility and the first of its kind in the Philippines. The championships run from 25 to 31 March 2026, covering 44 gold-medal events in track cycling plus 30 in para-track.

For the Malaysian elite squad, results have been competitive but just outside the top step:

• Women’s Elite Team Sprint — Anis Amira Rosidi, Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri, and Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid clocked 48.652 seconds for silver, behind China’s dominant 46.806s.
• Men’s Elite Team Sprint — Mohd Akmal Nazimi Jusena, Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom, and Muhammad Fadhil Mohd Zonis recorded 44.405s but narrowly lost the bronze-medal ride to Hong Kong (43.741s).
• Para-cycling — Malaysia collected three gold medals through the first three days, including wins from Mohamad Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin, Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi, and Nur Suraiya Muhamad Zamri (with pilot Farina Shawati Mohd Adnan).

China has dominated the overall standings with seven-plus golds in the opening days, followed by Japan and South Korea.

Where Danial Fits in Malaysian Cycling History

Malaysia has a proud tradition in Asian track cycling, built largely on the back of one extraordinary rider. Azizulhasni Awang — the “Pocket Rocketman” — has collected 12 gold medals across Asian Track Cycling Championships from 2007 to 2023, plus an Olympic silver (Tokyo 2020 keirin) and a World Championship gold (2017 keirin). He is widely regarded as the greatest Malaysian cyclist of all time.

Before Azizulhasni, Josiah Ng blazed the trail as a three-time Olympian and the first Malaysian to win Commonwealth Games gold in track cycling (keirin, 2010 Delhi). Fatehah Mustapa became the first Malaysian woman to win an Asian Cycling Championship title and medal at the Asian Games.

Malaysia’s track cycling story stretches back further still — at the very first Asian Cycling Championships in Kuala Lumpur in 1963, Ng Joo Pong and teammates won gold in the team time trial.

Danial Hakim now adds his name to this lineage. At 18, with both road and track experience on his palmares, he represents exactly the kind of emerging talent that Malaysian cycling needs as Azizulhasni’s generation approaches retirement.

What This Means for Malaysian Cycling

The results in Tagaytay suggest that Malaysia’s investment in junior development is paying dividends. For years, the national programme leaned heavily on a handful of elite riders. The emergence of Danial, Nur Umairah, and a competitive junior squad signals a broader base of talent coming through.

With the National Track Championships later this year and the Asian Games cycle approaching, these juniors will have plenty of opportunities to prove that Tagaytay was not a one-off.

For Malaysian cycling fans, there is finally a reason to watch the junior ranks closely. The next Pocket Rocketman might already be on the track.

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The 2026 Asian Track Cycling Championships continue in Tagaytay through 31 March. Follow the Asian Cycling Confederation for live results.