MUHAMAD Adiq Husainie is a speed demon. Give him a bicycle and he will show just how fast he can go. As a kid, Adiq used to “terrorise” the streets of Kemaman in Terengganu, on his bicycle with his friends.
Worry not, though, because he wasn’t a troublemaker. Adiq was just a young boy who loved to see how fast he could go on a bicycle.
“I remember roaming the streets on my basikal nyamuk (slang for tiny bicycle) when I was younger. My mother only bought me a proper mountain bike when I was 13,” says Adiq, now 18.
Growing up, Adiq didn’t harbour any hopes or dreams to become a professional cyclist – he wanted to be an engineer. It was his mother who pushed him to take up cycling seriously, and this led him to where he is today – one of Malaysia’s talented, up-and-rising cyclists.
“I enrolled at the Bukit Jalil Sports School in Kuala Lumpur when I was 15. I trained for cycling and completed my secondary education there.”Now based in Melbourne, Australia, Adiq is training with 11 other elite cyclists from Malaysia and will be signing a contract with an Australia-based professional cycling team early next year.
“I’ll still represent Malaysia in international tournaments. The contract allows me to take breaks from the professional team to be part of my national team now and then,” he says.
The soft-spoken lad is currently enjoying his well-deserved break in Malaysia before flying off to Melbourne soon. He recently made history after winning the country’s first-ever medal at the World Junior Championship in Moscow, Russia, last month. He took home the bronze medal in the scratch race event.
The young cyclist also had more success at the recent Asian Cycling Championships (ACC) in Samarinda, Indonesia, and was crowned the most outstanding Malaysian racer in the junior category races.
Adiq won three medals at ACC; he won silver in the individual road race and won bronze medals from the scratch and madison (in which he partnered Zulhilmie Afif Ahmad Zamri) events.
It was these victories that got Adiq promoted from the junior squad to the national elite squad for cycling. “I am thankful for my win but I’m still not satisfied. The medals I won are not the gold medals I’d wanted before entering the championships,” says Adiq, who only considers it a win if he finishes first in any competition.
Besides, Adiq wants to show that not all Malaysian athletes become complacent after a few wins. “There are some people who have very little faith in Malaysian athletes. I’m going to prove them wrong and show that Malaysians can actually do well in international arena if they’ve set their heart to it,” he says.
Modest despite his success, Adiq is planning to amp up his already gruelling training sessions in order to be ready for the next international championship.
When in Melbourne, Adiq trains three times a day for six days a week.
“I get Mondays off but it’s not even for the whole day,” he says.
He’ll be spending the next six months overseas, and for the first time in his life, will be missing out on the Hari Raya celebrations.
“I’ve never been away from my family and friends during Raya, and I guess I have to get over the fact that I won’t be around to celebrate the occasion with them this year,” says Adiq.
With a tinge of sadness in his voice, Adiq confessed that the one thing he’ll miss the most during Hari Raya – even more than lemang and rendang – is his mother.
“I’m very lucky to have a mother like her. She’s so understanding and has been supportive of my career decision since the beginning. She has done so much for me and I won’t forget the day she spent RM2,000 to buy a bicycle for me when I was 16.”
Adiq is definitely a mother’s boy and keeps in touch with her all the time, even from Melbourne.
“Since we have to cook for ourselves there, I always call my mother and ask her for recipes,” he says.
She is also the person Adiq talks to when he’s feeling down, like when he felt sorely disappointed for not winning the gold medal in Moscow and Samarinda.
“I really thought that I could do well in Moscow but unfortunately, a day before the championship, I was down with food poisoning.”
Adiq remembers feeling blue for almost a week after the incident, as he felt that his training for over a year for the championships had been in vain. But he didn’t let himself wallow in sorrow any longer than that.
“I realised that there’s no point in letting the sorrow take over me. I need to show more commitment towards racing and work harder than ever,” he says.
Although Adiq admits that training could get boring once in a while, he has to get through it as it is what he has signed up for.
“I can’t run away from it. It’s what I have to do if I want to achieve the kind of success that I’ve been dreaming of all my life.”
That success, he says, will come when he wins gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics. Adiq has set his heart on doing well at the upcoming World Cup in Manchester, England, an event that will help him earn points to qualify for the Olympics.
“I won’t stop till I get what I want. I will continue to pursue my dreams of making a name for myself and Malaysia in the international cycling arena,” he says.
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