Cyclist Usama, coach Haroon to attend UCI camp in Seoul

KARACHI: Young cyclist Usama Ahmed and coach Mohammad Haroon will attend a cycling camp which will begin at the international cycling governing body’s (UCI) satellite training centre in Seoul, South Korea, from August 20.

They were scheduled to fly out of Islamabad for the Korean capital on Friday night.Lahore-born 17-year-old Usama is yet to make his international debut. Haroon is the secretary of Islamabad Cycling Association. He is also the grandson of former Test cricketer Fazal Mehmood. He will attend level-1 and level-11 coaching courses. The camp will last 40 days.

They will return on September 30, Pakistan Cycling Federation’s (PCF) secretary Syed Azhar Ali Shah told ‘The News’ on Friday.Sardar Nazakat Ali (coach) and Marium, the rider of Army, got training in Seoul last year.

Shah said that such centres are also operating in Japan and India. He thanked Korean Cycling Federation (KCF), President and Secretary of Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC), and President of UCI Bran Cookson for their efforts in providing world-class training opportunities to PCF cyclists and coaches.

Shah also requested the federal and provincial governments’ sports departments to include the scheme of construction of cycling velodromes in their respective ADPs so that they could be used to groom national riders for future national duty.