M’sian Cyclist Azizulhasni Shares How Europe Competition Wanted to Oust Him For “Save Gaza” Message

With the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, many on the global scene have voiced out against the inhuman acts and shown support for Palestine.

There are also those who call out the apparent hypocrisy of major world powers on the ongoing crisis and the decades-long occupancy by Israel on Palestine.

Most recently, Malaysian cycling star Datuk Azizulhasni Awang, more affectionately known as the “Pocket Rocket”, took to his official X account to share a personal experience of facing scrutiny by a major European championship simply for showing support for Palestinians.

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Pada Julai 2014, saya hampir di tendang keluar dari perkampungan sukan dan penyertaan saya di satu kejohanan besar di Eropah hampir dibatalkan.

Semuanya gara-gara kerana saya memaparkan mesej Save Gaza di atas glove yang saya pakai. Ketika itu saya berlumba dengan pic.twitter.com/4ub118hn4E

— Azizulhasni Awang (@AzizulAWANG) October 17, 2023

In an X thread, Azizulhasni shared how he was almost ousted from a sporting village and how his participation in a major European championship was nearly cancelled because he showed a “Save Gaza” message on his gloves after winning a race against a British cyclist.

The incident happened in July 2014, which happened to be the holy month of Ramadan, whereby throughout the championship, Gaza was also bombarded by bombs by Israel.

Azizulhasni further elaborated that the reason given by the competition for wanting to cancel his participation was that he had shown a political message on the sports stage.

However, the Malaysian track cycling star refuted this claim, saying that he was only trying to convey a humanitarian message so that the whole world knows about the plights faced by the Palestinians in Gaza.

Azizulhasni then called out the hypocrisy of the West, whereby they exert various things so that the world can’t see the plight of Palestinians. He further said that on the contrary, when two European countries were at war with each other, they openly showed solidarity with one nation, saying it was ‘freedom of speech’ and also ‘humanitarian support’.

So, what do you guys think of the statement by Azizulhasni? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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