KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- The uncertainty surrounding the destiny of the Tour of Malaysia cycling event next year was answered when its organiser Ten Speed Events assured that the event would go on.
Organising chairman Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz said the event had to be postponed from January to April due to lack of sponsors.
"We have now postponed the Tour from the initial dates, Jan 11-18 to April 19-26, to ensure the prestigious international cycling event was organised without any hitches," he told reporters here, Tuesday.
Astaman said as the organiser, he also did not want to burden the government due to the shortfalls in its organisation.
"For the past two years, we had spent RM8 million to organise the event with money sourced from sponsors and we never sought funds from the government," he said.
This year though Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had promised to provide funds to organise the Tour and that is a very positive news, he said.
He added that the International Cycling Union's (UCI) consideration to upgrade the Tour from 2.2 to 2.1 had also resulted in the delay.
The Tour next year would be increased from seven to eight days and stages start from the Klang valley and head to the East Coast before ending in Kuala Lumpur.
"The stages held this year would not cover Melaka, Johor and Negeri Sembilan," he said.
Meanwhile, UCI Asia advisor, Jamaluddin Mahmmod said the postponement of the Tour would not disrupt or cause any problem as a number of events in Europe had also been cancelled or rescheduled due to the global economic crisis.
-- BERNAMA
Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...
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