Cycling

Virus punctures Asian track championships

The Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) have cancelled next month's track championships in Kazakhstan due to Covid-19.

Also struck off the Asian calendar are this month's BMW championships in Indonesia and next month's mountain bike in Myanmar.

National Cycling Federation (MNCF) vice president Datuk Amarjit Singh Gill said strict quarantine in the region prevented the competitions from being held.

"We have to skip our continental championships for this year," said Amarjit, who also sits on the ACC executive committee.

"It is not conducive to host the continental championships because most of the Asian countries require strict quarantine procedures for 10 to 21 days, so they were reluctant to participate as we have just finished the Tokyo Olympics.

"Cases in some countries like Myanmar and Indonesia are also high, so they were unable to get the approval to commit to hosting the events."

The cancellation of the Asian Championships means track cyclists Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Fadhil Zonis will have to wait longer to fight for their first Asian championships gold medals.

Shah and Fadhil were expected to spearhead Malaysia's challenge in the absence of Azizulhasni Awang who has indicated he wants to spend time with his family in Melbourne after winning the Tokyo Olympic silver.

Shah has won three medals in the Asian Championships: silver (keirin) and bronze (sprint) in 2019 and bronze (keirin) in 2017.

Fadhil, who won the Track Nations Cup gold medal (1km time trial) in Hong Kong in May, was silver medallist in the 2020 edition in South Korea.

Amarjit said MNCF are keen to bid for the 2023 Asian Championships hosting job, and use the competition as build-up for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"The 2024 Olympics will be around the corner by then, and the Asian championships will be an important qualifying event. We will prepare a proposal to host the Asian championships, which we last hosted in Nilai in 2018."

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