TWO meaningful pieces of history written by the track sprints squad failed to eclipse the fact that Malaysian cycling was still firing blanks on all other fronts in 2010.
A first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal was achieved in New Delhi in October when Josiah Ng benefited from Azizul Hasni Awang's disqualification from what would have been an even more astonishing gold and silver medal feat.
A month later in Guangzhou, Azizul made amends, and the gold medal he won ahead of Josiah ended Malaysia's 40-year drought.
Earlier in the year, road cyclist Anuar Manan etched his name into the history books by becoming the first Malaysian to win a stage in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).
That victory, however, had been diluted by the critics as the race had featured its weakest field since the inaugural edition in 1996, with mainly Asian teams, alongside just one ProTour team and two European teams.
If the LTdL in March provided just what was expected of Anuar, later in the month Azizul provided fans with another display of his competitiveness when he rebounded from defeat in the early stages of the 200m sprint (he won the silver last year) to bag the silver in the keirin at the World Championships in Moscow.
The Asian Championships and Asian Junior Championships in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates in April then served to bring the riders down to earth and provide a wake-up call for Malaysian cycling.
For the first time since 2006, Malaysia failed to win a single gold medal in the senior championships, while the juniors returned without a gold for the third year running.
But those alarm bells were rather unnoticed by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF), as much attention was deflected towards the sprints squad.
With a record of one gold, silver and bronze in the Commonwealth Games and one gold and silver in the Asian Games, this was by far the greatest achievement in history by Malaysian cycling.
The belief in the likes of Azizul, Josiah and Rizal Tisin inspired so much hope that cycling suddenly had millions of ringgit at its disposal, be it for track cycling or other areas.
An RM1.9 million budget came from the Sports Ministry via the LTdL, for the development of a road programme, but what the MNCF did with it was to start a National Grand Prix Circuit, for which RM60,000 per round was budgeted for the one-day events.
It remains to be seen just how will putting the squad, with a RM500,000 budget, in a training camp in Malacca (which head coach John Beasley has nothing to do with) help raise the level of the cyclists.
Checks revealed that some MNCF officials made deals with certain high-ranking officials which had their close relatives providing accommodation and catering services. Some of these relatives were even appointed as team officials.
The MNCF, it seemed this year, had little control over decisions made by some of its top ranking officials, simply because they are pulling in funds from the government, which these select few in the federation have full control of.
Questions have been raised over whether the Sports Ministry itself is having a hand in the MNCF's internal politics, because via the LTdL the ministry seems to want to have a hand in a number of decisions and appointments.
These are decisions which generally should be left to the federation's council members since they are the ones who will eventually be held collectively accountable for.
It is this sort of politicking that forces us to look at other efforts that can be trusted to contribute to the actual development or overcoming ailments which the national body has often failed to correct.
In recent years, it has been proven by poorly-funded teams like the LeTua Cycling Team, that privately-run programmes could be the only way forward for road cycling in the country. Despite little funds, the team managed to produce some great results.
The MNCF has not been fully supportive of this notion, but president Abu Samah Wahab should be given some credit for retracting his earlier condemnation of the proposed Terengganu Pro-Asia Cycling Team (TPCT) even before they were formed.
It could be teams like this (properly funded and with good management that isn't linked to any of the political hierarchy in the national body) that will drive road cycling out of the doldrums.
Signs are that the MNCF, apart from merely complementing development efforts via the National Sports Council-backed State Training Centres (PLN) and their closed circuit competitions, and the SportExcel National Junior Circuits, are happy to ride on the success of the track team.
But there are also signs that, politics apart, small groups in the cycling fraternity, MNCF included, are making efforts to at least build the base for the sport to prosper.
Credit must be given to those in the background, seldom highlighted in the press, who are contributing to the running of these programmes, along with the efforts to multiply the numbers of well-equipped coaches via the Level 2 coaching courses held this year.
More than 30 coaches with Level 2 qualifications will operate in the national scene next year. Just five years ago, there were only three Malaysians who held the same qualifications.
These are signs of improvement in the quality of riders coming up from the base, particularly for road and track events.
But to go further into the base, the MNCF, despite almost 10 years of trying, still haven't fully secured its one vital partner, the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM).
Cycling needs a base starting from the Under-12 age group, with simple road, track and mountain bike events or BMX as catalyst, but for that to be realised, the sport needs to be part of the education system and part of the MSSM annual calendar with the Education Ministry playing a more active role.
As it is, the sport relies mainly on the PLNs and academies which operate with juniors coming from talent identification programmes or ad-hoc scouting. Cycling's wings aren't spread as wide as they should be.
Sure, Malaysian cycling's big target is the London Olympic in 2012, and with Azizul and his teammates looking well on track towards that goal, eyes should be opened to what lies ahead for cycling beyond that.
The foundations are there, but they don't seem strong enough.
Road cycling is struggling to even win back the little glories such as Sea Games gold medals, while mountain biking seems almost forgotten despite some valiant effort by riders in that discipline.
Track cycling, despite the performances of the elite squad, should be alarmed by the dismal results of the junior squad which doesn't augur well for long-term success, or beyond the career of Azizul.
Cycling may have produced Malaysia's athlete of the decade in Azizul, but in truth there's a lot of cleaning up to be done, a lot more effort and funding that need to be channeled into all areas of development.
To end on a sorrowful note, 2010 also saw the demise of two of Malaysian cycling's icons -- 1971 Sportsman of the Year Daud Ibrahim, who was killed in a road accident on Nov 10 and the long serving Kuala Lumpur CA deputy president Daud Abu Kassim who succumbed to a heart attack on Dec 12.
Both had spent the larger part of their lives contributing to the sport and their absence is already being felt by a fraternity that had benefited much from their presence.
Read more: Cycling: Brilliance in patches http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/ansuaia/Article#ixzz18uOzLb2c
A month later in Guangzhou, Azizul made amends, and the gold medal he won ahead of Josiah ended Malaysia's 40-year drought.
Earlier in the year, road cyclist Anuar Manan etched his name into the history books by becoming the first Malaysian to win a stage in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).
That victory, however, had been diluted by the critics as the race had featured its weakest field since the inaugural edition in 1996, with mainly Asian teams, alongside just one ProTour team and two European teams.
If the LTdL in March provided just what was expected of Anuar, later in the month Azizul provided fans with another display of his competitiveness when he rebounded from defeat in the early stages of the 200m sprint (he won the silver last year) to bag the silver in the keirin at the World Championships in Moscow.
The Asian Championships and Asian Junior Championships in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates in April then served to bring the riders down to earth and provide a wake-up call for Malaysian cycling.
For the first time since 2006, Malaysia failed to win a single gold medal in the senior championships, while the juniors returned without a gold for the third year running.
But those alarm bells were rather unnoticed by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF), as much attention was deflected towards the sprints squad.
With a record of one gold, silver and bronze in the Commonwealth Games and one gold and silver in the Asian Games, this was by far the greatest achievement in history by Malaysian cycling.
The belief in the likes of Azizul, Josiah and Rizal Tisin inspired so much hope that cycling suddenly had millions of ringgit at its disposal, be it for track cycling or other areas.
An RM1.9 million budget came from the Sports Ministry via the LTdL, for the development of a road programme, but what the MNCF did with it was to start a National Grand Prix Circuit, for which RM60,000 per round was budgeted for the one-day events.
It remains to be seen just how will putting the squad, with a RM500,000 budget, in a training camp in Malacca (which head coach John Beasley has nothing to do with) help raise the level of the cyclists.
Checks revealed that some MNCF officials made deals with certain high-ranking officials which had their close relatives providing accommodation and catering services. Some of these relatives were even appointed as team officials.
The MNCF, it seemed this year, had little control over decisions made by some of its top ranking officials, simply because they are pulling in funds from the government, which these select few in the federation have full control of.
Questions have been raised over whether the Sports Ministry itself is having a hand in the MNCF's internal politics, because via the LTdL the ministry seems to want to have a hand in a number of decisions and appointments.
These are decisions which generally should be left to the federation's council members since they are the ones who will eventually be held collectively accountable for.
It is this sort of politicking that forces us to look at other efforts that can be trusted to contribute to the actual development or overcoming ailments which the national body has often failed to correct.
In recent years, it has been proven by poorly-funded teams like the LeTua Cycling Team, that privately-run programmes could be the only way forward for road cycling in the country. Despite little funds, the team managed to produce some great results.
The MNCF has not been fully supportive of this notion, but president Abu Samah Wahab should be given some credit for retracting his earlier condemnation of the proposed Terengganu Pro-Asia Cycling Team (TPCT) even before they were formed.
It could be teams like this (properly funded and with good management that isn't linked to any of the political hierarchy in the national body) that will drive road cycling out of the doldrums.
Signs are that the MNCF, apart from merely complementing development efforts via the National Sports Council-backed State Training Centres (PLN) and their closed circuit competitions, and the SportExcel National Junior Circuits, are happy to ride on the success of the track team.
But there are also signs that, politics apart, small groups in the cycling fraternity, MNCF included, are making efforts to at least build the base for the sport to prosper.
Credit must be given to those in the background, seldom highlighted in the press, who are contributing to the running of these programmes, along with the efforts to multiply the numbers of well-equipped coaches via the Level 2 coaching courses held this year.
More than 30 coaches with Level 2 qualifications will operate in the national scene next year. Just five years ago, there were only three Malaysians who held the same qualifications.
These are signs of improvement in the quality of riders coming up from the base, particularly for road and track events.
But to go further into the base, the MNCF, despite almost 10 years of trying, still haven't fully secured its one vital partner, the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM).
Cycling needs a base starting from the Under-12 age group, with simple road, track and mountain bike events or BMX as catalyst, but for that to be realised, the sport needs to be part of the education system and part of the MSSM annual calendar with the Education Ministry playing a more active role.
As it is, the sport relies mainly on the PLNs and academies which operate with juniors coming from talent identification programmes or ad-hoc scouting. Cycling's wings aren't spread as wide as they should be.
Sure, Malaysian cycling's big target is the London Olympic in 2012, and with Azizul and his teammates looking well on track towards that goal, eyes should be opened to what lies ahead for cycling beyond that.
The foundations are there, but they don't seem strong enough.
Road cycling is struggling to even win back the little glories such as Sea Games gold medals, while mountain biking seems almost forgotten despite some valiant effort by riders in that discipline.
Track cycling, despite the performances of the elite squad, should be alarmed by the dismal results of the junior squad which doesn't augur well for long-term success, or beyond the career of Azizul.
Cycling may have produced Malaysia's athlete of the decade in Azizul, but in truth there's a lot of cleaning up to be done, a lot more effort and funding that need to be channeled into all areas of development.
To end on a sorrowful note, 2010 also saw the demise of two of Malaysian cycling's icons -- 1971 Sportsman of the Year Daud Ibrahim, who was killed in a road accident on Nov 10 and the long serving Kuala Lumpur CA deputy president Daud Abu Kassim who succumbed to a heart attack on Dec 12.
Both had spent the larger part of their lives contributing to the sport and their absence is already being felt by a fraternity that had benefited much from their presence.
Read more: Cycling: Brilliance in patches http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/ansuaia/Article#ixzz18uOzLb2c
3 comments:
Ini dakwaan serius! harap pihak MNCF menyangkal mahupun menyaman pihak akbar membuat kenyataan sebegini! (dalam nada perli)
kah kah kah mangkuk! si 3 haji baca mesti dalam keadaan marah tapi tak leh nak marah pasal benda betul. ibarat perut memulas nak berak tapi taik tak keluar.
lanchow la! siapa punya wartawan ni.berani buat kenyataan macam ni! (dalam nada konon2 perli)
mana si mangkuk haji yang gila pengang mikraphone sambil memuji si haji sorang lagi semalam masa di race di jasin! cepat ambil tindakan makhamah ini dakwaan berat ni! lanchow la! kata amat rapat dengan pelumba tapi tak pernah dengar nama pemenang GP! kanniiinee cibaii...lanchow la! pelumba negeri sendiri pun kalo dapat hafal 2 orang nama pun dah kira ajaib lah...
kah kah kah kah
p.s kalo dah bodoh baik duduk diam jangan menyalak. buat malu abah sendiri kat opis je dapat keturunan macam ni kecoh kat pekan jasin. tak sedar orang ramai mengutuk. bangang!
Chink Aun Aik and Co.
Salam Tuan,
Mohon bertenang. Insya Allah pihak berbasikal akan memastikan perkara ini tidak benar.
Terima Kasih
ada yang dah baca ni....patut le senyap kat dada akhbar...mana dia si haji sorang lagi tu...yang tak renti2 keluar di akhbar sebelum seers tiba? juruletih kebangsaan lah...penolong juruletih kebangsaan lah...pengurus lah....semua dia nak...betul lah nampak gaya nya kenyataan mangkuk akhbar...ni semua nak habiskan duit.
p.s Jom karaoke tak OK.
Chink Aun Aik and Co.
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