Pakistan to host South Asian Road Cycling Championship

KARACHI: Pakistan has been allotted the South Asian Road Cycling Championship which the country will host either in Islamabad or Peshawar this year.

This was disclosed by the Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) president Syed Azhar Ali Shah in a news conference on Saturday.

All eight nations of South Asia will field their riders in the event.

“The year 2021 will be a great year for cycling. We will try to compensate for the damages which we faced last year due to Covid issues,” Shah said.

“The activities of 2021 will begin with the National Track Cycling Championship which will explode into action on March 29. In this three-day event both senior and junior lot will show their mettle. This will be followed by the 3rd International Khanjrab Cycling Championship which will either be held before or immediately after Ramadan. All preparations have been finalised for this event,” he said.

“As many as seven nations have almost ensured their participation. Around Rs30 million was spent on the event last year. This time Gilgit-Baltistan government is bracing up for ensuring a grand event,” Shah said.

He said that the country has been facing velodrome issues. “There is only one velodrome in Lahore which is in poor shape. It has been repaired several times but it is not suitable for hosting any major event. But it is a great sign that KP government has started work on establishing a velodrome on emergency basis. NESPAK has been assigned the task and very soon we will have an international standard cycling facility in KP. We are thankful to the KP government for this initiative,” said Shah.

“Last year we had to feature in the World Championship in Switzerland and Asian Track Championship in Malaysia but the organisers were forced to postpone both these events due to Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

“At the domestic level we last year conducted National Road Cycling Championship in Karachi which was highly successful. We also held an international event from Islamabad to Murree in which riders from Afghanistan featured. We had also invited some other nations for that event,” he said.

He said some people cannot tolerate the work being done by the PCF for the promotion of cycling. “They are doing everything to create hurdles in the way of the federation.

“But they are harming only themselves. We tell the POA to let the federations do their job. Our team was not allowed to feature in the Nepal South Asian Games which was not justified. Cyclists were the eventual losers who faced irreparable loss by missing a golden opportunity to showcase their talent at the region’s top spectacle,” Shah said.

“World cycling governing body (UCI) gives license to our riders for featuring in any event. The riders’ career should be safeguarded,” he said.

“We have removed the Tour de Pakistan International Cycle Race from our calendar due to various reasons. The long, tough race, huge traffic noise, board and lodging issues keep the riders tense. And that is why we prefer to hold two- or three-day events,” the PCF chief said.

KP Cycling Association president and the PCF Secretary Nisar Ahmed said on the occasion that they have given a plan to the KP chief minister Mehmood Khan for organising the Tour de Swat International Cycle Race. “After his approval the event will be conducted immediately after Eid-ul-Fitr. We want to have more than nine nations in the event. The event will cost us Rs70 million,” Nisar said.