NILAI: World keirin champion Azizulhasni Awang believes that the move to host a round of the 2019-20 UCI Track World Cup Series will be beneficial to Malaysian cyclists in the long run.
The Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) are in the process of bidding for the event, which will be hosted at the newly-built National Velodrome.
For the record, Malaysia has never hosted a round of the World Cup.
However, they did host a round of the 2000-01 World Cup Classics at Velodrome Rakyat in Ipoh.
"It (hosting the World Cup Series) would be a historic achievement for us. We had hosted the Classics a long time ago but that was in Ipoh," said Azizulhasni.
"This time we have the National Velodrome which is a world class facility so why not? It would be a proud achievement for our country.
"Hosting it would help us promote Malaysia, promote our velodrome and at the same time create an interest in the sport and also boost our development in track cycling."
The 30-year-old said the National Velodrome has received excellent reviews from top international track cyclists.
“South Africa will do their national qualifiers here while Canada also want to conduct their training camps for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"Several top nations have said the venue is ideal for training camps and short programmes ahead of priority assignments,” Azizulhasni added.
The National Velodrome, built at a cost of RM80 million, was completed last year and has since hosted a number of international competitions namely the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games, Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games, the Para Asian Track Championships and the Asian Track Championships.