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Masziyaton Seeks Sponsors To Qualify For Olympics

ALOR SETAR, Dec 27 (Bernama) -- National mountain biker Masziyaton Mohd Radzi will probably have to forget about competing at the Olympic Games 2012 after failing to get sponsorship to participate in three more qualifying tournaments in Europe.

Masziyaton, 23, said it was vital for her to compete in the three tournaments to earn the 200 points required to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.

"So far I've earned 135 points and I need to participate in three more overseas tournaments to earn another 65 points and qualify for the Olympic Games," she told reporters here Tuesday.

She said she needed sponsorship of RM76,000 to enable her to take part in cycling tournaments in Italy, the United Kingdom and Switzerland which were scheduled to begin in April next year.

Masziyaton, who clinched a silver medal in the mountain bike cross country event at the recently concluded Indonesian SEA Games, said she was determined to win a medal for Malaysia in the same event at the London Olympics next year.

Last year, she emerged as the winner in the cross country event of the Women's Elite Category at the inaugural Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC).

Meanwhile, Kedah cycling sports coordinator Nor Alfizar Othman, who is also Masziyaton's coach, said Masziyaton's participation in the three tournaments in Europe was vital if she is to qualify for the London Olympics.

Nevertheless, he said early preparations were also being carried out to help Masziyaton and another national cyclist, Mohd Fattah Amri Zaid, to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, in case they did not make it to the London Olympics.

Earlier, Masziyaton and Mohd Fattah attended the presentation ceremony of a sponsorship cheque of RM50,000 from Bina Darul Aman Berhad (BDB) to the Kedah Cycling Association.

The sponsorship was to enable the association to purchase new equipment to face the Malaysia Games (Sukma) and other tournaments.

The cheque was presented by BDB director Datuk Paduka Mohd Saad Endut to Kedah Youth and Sports Committee chairman Datuk Hamdan Mohamed Khalib.

At a press conference later, Hamdan said the state government was hoping more government-linked companies would emulate BDB in sponsoring sport associations in the state in a bid to develop young talents.

"I hope the Kedah Sports Council will hold meetings with the state government's subsidiaries to enable them to choose and focus on one sport to be developed," he said.

So far, he said, the Kedah State Development Corporation had been the largest contributors in sports development in Kedah, with an annual sponsorship of RM3 million to the state's football team.

-- BERNAMA

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