Quality Tour de Pakistan Cycling race not possible in Pakistan: Shah

A top official of Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) said on Wednesday that the country was not capable of organising quality Tour de Pakistan International Cycle Race due to lack of technical staff and finances.

“For conducting such an event first of all you need a hefty amount and then 60 to 70 qualified technical people,” PCF secretary Azhar Ali Shah told ‘The News’ in an interview.

“We have no money. Sports in Pakistan is just a joke. Nobody cares about it,” the dejected Shah said.

“We recently sent our team to Japan for the Asian Championship. It cost us Rs2.7 million. The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) gives us only Rs800,000 for the purpose. There are also no sponsors. How can we conduct such a race?” Shah said.

“At such a race you need to follow international standards. You can hold an event like some people did in the past by inviting mediocre riders from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka but that will not help our cyclists,” Shah said.

“For staging a standard race you need at least Rs25 million and the way we are taking our sports it looks impossible,” he said.

“We don’t have technical staff for the purpose. In Guwahati, India engaged around 70 technical officials for the South Asian Games cycling event but still they had to bring in a main UCI qualified conductor from Sri Lanka who must have charged between $10,000 and $15,000,” Shah said.

He also said that PCF did not have equipment required for a race of international standard. “We don’t have the required equipment. You need a few 1000cc motorcycles for the purpose. And the price of one bike is around Rs1,000,000. We don’t even have cycles because they are very expensive. The price of one cycle used for road race is around Rs600,000,” Shah said.

Unless the government and Army are involved 110 per cent, holding a quality Tour de Pakistan would be impossible, he said.

“You also need hundred percent support of the city, district and tehsil-level administration. The support of the highway police is also important. We have always seen a lot of problems there. They will give you approval but later will not give their hundred percent support,” Shah revealed.

Accommodation and diet are the other problems which prevent PCF from holding such competitions. “In major cities like Karachi and Lahore you will find good hotels. But where will the riders stay in places like Sukkur and Moro! You cannot imagine how we spend nights in these areas whenever there is any event,” the official said.

“Only rice and chicken-karahi will not suffice when you hold an international event. You need continental foods and without that it is impossible to look after the foreign riders,” Shah said.

A few years ago, PCF, under its former secretary Khwaja Idrees, organised Tour de Pakistan International Cycle Races which attracted a few mediocre riders from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and New Zealand.

Shah lamented it was very difficult to run a federation in Pakistan. “We plan to field team in the World Championships in Dubai in October. For this event we want to send our riders abroad for three to four months training but we don’t know how it would be possible as we don’t have money,” Shah said.

“This is the story of not just cycling. Other sports have the same problems. We cannot claim we will ever be able to make our presence felt in international circuit,” the official said.

(Source: The News)