SELAMAT HARI RAYA

To everybody on Earth,

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf zahir dan batin.

Now, didn't I say Fabio Duarte!!

Ha! Ha! Ha! There you go. And you read it here first, not in cyclingnews.com, Reuters or AFP.. I told you so here. I told you Fabio Duarte would be the one to win the UCI Under-23 World Championships road race and it happened, just as the script had it, although he might have got a little scare from the little Italian and German.
Duarte is the first ever Colombian winner of the title. Our Anuar Manan held on for one and half laps, Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi for six. Out of three years of participations, Malaysia has only had one finisher in the Under-23 World Championships - a self-funded Ng Yong Li, riding alone in 2006, finishing 122nd out of 156 finishers.
But you've gotta start thinking, and thinking how far behind we are. Duarte is 22 and has been a pro since he was 19. The closest we went was Yong Li breaking into the European scene as a 19-year old in 2005 and turning pro at 21 last year.
Sure it is far too difficult for the faint hearted, but Malaysian losers have given up long before they even got started. So, it is up to the individuals, the private ventures, the real fighters to carry on and look at how we're going to make a breakthrough.
The breakthroughs that are happening on the local front, at least as far a the administrators and 'caretakers' of the sport are concerned, was a meeting to discuss and decide which coach is to handle the national road team, held this afternoon. That, after almost nine months of the national squad having noone in charge. Phew!!
I believe these meetings and more meetings, which follow and come after other meetings, are all they are up to. Well yes, they think they've got enough political ammo in the track sprints squad's thus far successful programme.
Come on. Wake up MNCF and NSC. The world is leaving us behind!!!

UPDATE!! Full results and brief report is up on cyclingnews.com

59/60... So, do we dream on, or do something about it?

Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi arrived in Varese on Saturday, only to find his aero-bar had gone missing. Well, it was a clip-on aero-bar, which was to a fixed onto his road bike for the individual time trial.

Not that he didn't have a time trial bike. He couldn't bring it as the duo for the Under-23 World Championships were travelling on a tight budget, as their trip had been funded out of Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz's own pocket, not the NSC's taxpayers funds. So, they had to save money on excess baggage, leaving Fauzan with the only option of bringing just enough to make do.

Questions had been asked by silly people with silly minds about the validity of sending a squad to the World Championships when we have little chance of producing results. Now, those people should feel somewhat appeased by the fact that their predictions have come true. Fauzan finished 59th out of 60 finishers in the 33.5km individual time trial on Tuesday.

I think many people had been interested in the World Championships and were watching it live on Eurosport, judging from about 45 sms messages I got, mostly telling me: "Mana Fauzan? Batang hidung pun tak nampak." (Where is Fauzan? Didn't even have a glimpse of him.)

Some others said, "Of course lah, this is the World Championships, not Selangor Menteri Besar Cup." Well, of course, it is the World Championships.

Now, the question is, do we celebrate the fact that as expected our rider failed, or do we look at this more seriously? We've had enough of riders claiming pride from winning local races, races contested only by us. Some breakthroughs have been made. Our road boys are beginning to make waves on the international scene in the UCI Asia Tour races. Look at Anuar Manan and the Le Tua team. They fear nothing and always aim higher.

Look at Ng Yong Li, Loh Sea Keong and Firdaus Daud. They were brave enough to grab destiny by its horns and make their own moves to establish careers abroad. They've succeeded with what little support they had, when some people back home were eager to state that these riders had little hope of succeeding and weren't good enough to cut it.

We Malaysians always put down each other. And many of us often get sucked down that same road. Of course it is difficult. Ask Yong Li what pains he had to go through in his formative years in Spain and Portugal, then France. Ask Sea Keong how much his parents had to suffer to get him through and on the road to chasing down his dream, same goes for Firdaus.

It is a mammoth task, so fearsome that many are even afraid to get started. If that is the case, then why even bother having road cycling programmes in the country. Just focus on the five or six track riders at the Melbourne base.

But this is not the end. People are starting to realise that programmes under and run solely by the NSC and MNCF are usually doomed for failure, unless you have an angle like John Beasley falling out of the sky and onto your laps to save the track sprints programme. All the NSC have to do then, is fund it.

For me, as I've told MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad in a pow-wow between him and the "Terrible Two" of Malaysian cycling, Berita Harian's Zairee Zahir and myself, over supper on Saturday night, we should look at options.

The national team at World Championships for road or track, should be made up of the best riders who qualified through rankings, not a 100% monopoly by the NSC programme, because history has it that this is too risky for the safety of the future of Malaysian cycling.

The doors should be open for private programmes to be recognised. Trade teams can be registered both for road and track events, and points gathered for nations rankings towards qualification for the big two meets. If a privately run programme can field another 12 riders at World Cup events to complement the national team's entries, why not? At the end of the day, points and returns are for the country.

I guess private companies would also be more interested if they see an opportunity to fund riders all the way to World Championships. That's wishful thinking for the moment, but I do think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So, for the road squad, I think since there are three establishments capable of racing on the international stage - Le Tua, MCF and the national team - there should be a programme established from now on.

What better target annually than the World Championships? Of course, Le Tour de Langkawi is there, so is Jelajah Malaysia. But those are in the early part of the season, while World Championships are usually in September or October. If the track squad can be set World Championships targets, why not the road squad. We've already qualified for three successive Under-23 World Championships, and we can use the UCI Asia Tour tickets to qualify for the elite category Worlds. That is a start, before we look at winning. But why do we fear even starting? Because we have weak people deciding our fate.

Come on, look at the startlist for the Elite Road World Championships road race. Japan have qualified Yukiya Arashiro, Kazuo Inoue and Hidenori Nodera.. On Yong Li's day, on any given mountain, Arashiro wouldn't even be fit to share his powerbar! Well, okay, this past season Yong Li was busy being Arashiro's Meitan-Hompo team domestique in France. So he didn't have time to look at qualifying for the World Championships. Isn't it MNCF's job to look into how he can qualify and lead him to it?

What about the over 200 other road riders in the country? Do they have a future? Can they have dreams of even rubbing shoulders with those at the top someday? Not at the moment. Because according to most in MNCF and NSC, they are never ready, they are never prepared and they are never good enough. Not even if they've earned the right through qualification!!

It always "takes time", "you can't expect instant results"... etc... Well, I started covering cycling almost nine years ago. I'm still waiting for them to overcome the long wait.

Now, now, please take note. Seriously.

None of you may care, but what the heck... I have a few hobbies really close to my heart: I'm a bit of an audiophile, sports freak (read a lot, watch a lot, play sometimes), a bit of a dreamer, a reader (stuff other than sport) and when its that time of the year, I can get so crazy about fishing. Get so crazy sometimes, that I just want to be left alone to catch all those monsters. Friends have called me nuts; mummy and daddy always wondered why I spent so much time doing it, yet usually came back with little or nothing for dinner.
It is my getaway without going on expensive holidays; it is my short drive away to peace from this seriously screwed up world; it is my moment with destiny, when my dreams are fulfilled by God and his most fascinating, unpredictable, yet inspiring creations - fish.

Now, this piece that appeared in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul in the US, sure can give fellow anglers and myself loads of inspiration. Maybe we've been doing something right all along.

But of course, I have no dreams of becoming President of the US (or Prime Minister of Malaysia)!!!

Datuk Mat Said punya pantun raya!!

Datuk Ahmad Said, the Terengganu Menteri Besar, has taken time off his busy schedule to amuse us with his self-penned pantuns or poems for Hari Raya, one for every State in the country. Somehow, he left out Sabah and Sarawak.
Check it out on this blog. I particularly like the one for Malacca!!

World's apart, but they sure will meet in Varese

Some editions of Le Tour de Langkawi ago, Fabio Duarte (above) made quiet appearances in Malaysia, as part of the Colombia-Selle Italia team, which evolved into the Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Gioccatoli team under Gianni Savio.
The noise he'd made in Malaysia was dwarfed significantly by that made by Anuar Manan (below), who'd romped to two successive points classification wins in Jelajah Malaysia and then only denied Malaysia's first ever stage victory in Le Tour de Langkawi this year, by Seoul City's Lee Won Jae. Anuar is the star road rider Malaysians made for themselves.
But the duo meet in the Under-23 World Championships road race in Varese on Friday, where the tables have been turned even before the start. Malaysia's troubled national road programme meant that Anuar and his sole teammate Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi had to be 'saved' from missing the Under-23 Worlds by samaritan Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz, who forked out his own cash to foot the bill for the duo to fly to Varese. And then, as I wrote in NST last week.
Anuar and Fauzan. as history of Malaysia's three previous participations in the Under-23 Worlds would suggest, would be lucky to complete the road race in the main bunch, Fauzan luckier to even finish the individual time trial on Tuesday, within the top 30 espoirs in the world.
Duarte meanwhile, or at least I believe so after looking at the start list, should be disappointed if he doesn't return to Colombia with the gold medal. He is the only one in the entire start list with a real reputation at pro level.
Sure, they are worlds apart, as is Colombia compared to Malaysia. But both countries have riders qualified for the World Championships, the annual pinnacle of the sport for national teams, apart from the Grand Tours and the Classics, which are contested by trade teams. Yet some people in Malaysia didn't want to be repesented.

Off they went. Thanks to those who believe.

There they were, Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (second from right) and Anuar Manan (third from right), leaving for Varese, Italy for the Under-23 World Championships on Thursday night, thanks to the guy at the top, Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz.
Thankfully, Datuk Astaman realised what bullshit was happening and didn't hesitate to fork out his own money to send a Malaysian team to Italy!!
The Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) had run out of funds and could not afford to send the team to Italy, despite the national qualified to send five riders based on the UCI Asia Tour nations ranking which has Malaysia second behind Iran. Anuar, Ahmad Haidar Anuawar and Nor Ridzuan Zainal were the top three ranked Malaysians. Of course, all three were Le Tua riders and had nothing to do with MNCF or the National Sports Council.
Suddenly, the usual stuff you here from the big failures in MNCF and NSC, the usual story that our riders are not prepared and not ready for the top level of competition. Okay, we took that 10 years ago and now we keep on asking the idiots who utter those words, "When the fuck will we be ready?!!!"
You can't possibly require 50 years and still not be ready for anything other than trips to Indonesia, Thailand or at the most Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Okay, chances of Malaysians winning a World Championships gold, are really, really far fetched. So, if we qualify for the World Championships, we don't go because we can't win? If that was the case, sending 32 athletes to the Olympics was a total waste. We should have just sent LEe Chong Wei, along with his coach Misbun Sidek and a masseur. That would have been enough!!
We have idiots advising idiots and end up with bullshit in Malaysian cycling. This has been going on for far too long.
I am going to state my case right here:

1. Before 2005, no one in the NSC or MNCF believed Malaysians were good enough to become professional riders in Europe. About a little more than RM60,000 was spent and Ng Yong Li signed with Portuguese team Vitoria ASC in 2007, to become Malaysia's first professional rider. You must note, that Yong Li has never been part of any programme under the NSC and was self-funded by his family and friends.

2. The NSC spends millions (and there is proof of this) a year on bicycle equipment, kits for riders and so on. We don't want ot argue with who supplies the stuff, let that be. It is common knowledge that in 2007 the MNCF were given a RM2.3 million grant by the Sports Ministry, which is to be 'managed' by the NSC. Ask around and you will find that that kitty has been emptied. Its okay if they emptied it, but for what results? Have you seen the national team or the MCF Cycling Team, which was formed with track riders out of the budget for that, delivering any wins on the international stage over the past year? NO!!!
The victories came from Anuar and Ahmad Haidar Anuawar, who ride for the Le Tua team, and most recently in the Tour of Thailand, through Trek-Marco Polo rider Loh Sea Keong. Le Tua operates on a budget of less than RM80,000!!! Ah Keong is an amateur signed as a development rider with the Chinese team. Compare RM2.3 million with RM80,000!!!!!!

3. As you know and have grown accustomed to, the root of the problem is in the minds of those running the road cycling programme in MNCF and NSC. Of course, everybody knows, road development is 20 times more difficult than to achieve success on track, but can't we do it? It is proven, that with team's like Le Tua and all privately run initiatives, real cycling people, those who have a heart for the sport and do it mainly for the love, are achieving far more than the 'professionals' in NSC. The results are mindbogglingly clear!!

I would also like to quote a very long serving coach's previous statements in meetings, when requests for NSC funding for Ng Yong Li were made.
"Ini rider tak boleh pakai punya. Tadak guna punya." Can you check the overall result of Le Tour de Langkawi last year and the year before??? Tak boleh pakai? Well, his riders seem to always be preparing, doing foundation work, etc.. While taxpayers continue to pay the price.
Apparently, he is the unparalleled cycling expert within NSC ranks. Everything goes through him. Pheww!! Good luck NSC.

Now, that's what you call accountability!

MARTIN Barras was moved from the Australian track cycling sprints coaching duties yesterday and offered a post in their high performance programme. This is as a result of Australia's disaster at the Olympics, where they failed to win a single gold medal after the all-dominating show in Athens four years ago. As reported by AFP here and The Age here. Australia suffered their worst performance in track cycling since Moscow 1980 with a single silver from Anna Meares, when in Athens they went home with no fewer than five gold medals, four from sprint events.
Wow! Look at what he delivered in Athens and how he's had to pay the price for shortfalls on the biggest stage. Which is not the case here in Malaysia.
We have a track endurance coach, who's only claim to fame was a gold medal in the 1970 Asian Games. His archaic techniques have often been criticised and he's constantly failed to deliver results beyond the Sea Games. But okay, the National Sports Council's big guns are his friends, so he gets to stay for as long as he wants and supply bike parts in the hundreds of thousands of ringgit to the NSC.
To note just how bad our endurance squad is at the moment, despite millions of taxpayers money spent, just look at the Olympic results of the individual pursuit. The lower ranked individual pursuit riders were doing about four minutes 18 or 19 seconds plus. Our TEAM PURSUIT (which was far from even qualifying for the Olympics) national record stands at 4:23... something. That's four riders and the time hasn't improved in the past two years.
In the mean time, riders have had to bear the brunt of failures. I've seen the end of a number of careers in my time as a cycling writer. Somehow or rather, the coach is never wrong. Hey, this is Malaysia and we're really, really serious about sport. Of course, because we spend billions!!!

Keirin Open. The real Saturday night fever

Pic: Riders warming up ahead of the Keirin Open at the KL Velodrome on Saturday night. Up front is Terengganu's Shahrul Afiza Fauzan.

I couldn't help but giggle to myself, right from the first of a whole series of sms messages I got from Fairoz Izni Abdul Ghani and Hardi Razali, which began early Saturday morning.

It was all about what was supposed to be a little race at the KL Velodrome late that night, which was cooked up between the duo, with Datuk Malek Maidin, their former national teammate, among the key drivers.

They'd never organised a race themselves - Hardi and Fairoz being among the first cyclists I'd covered during the fledgling years of my little career. So, this race, which eventually costed about a little over RM2,000, was a 'BIG' thing for them. Somehow, I had a feeling they were worried I'd ditch them that night and not arrive at the velodrome. Hahaha... Well, I told them from the start, they can count on my support.

Seriously, it was quite a painful task for these greenhorns to get the show running. But if you read on, you'll see that it eventually turned out into something rather fun and enjoyable for everybody who cared to go, which was roughly about 200 people.

So, sensing the discomfort within the souls of my two friends, I decided to take up Le Tua coach Joe Nayan's invite to join him and his wife for buka puasa at the velodrome.
I was worried that the Uptown night market in the velodrome carpark would be a nuisance to the entry as the night grew, and it turned out so, but nothing stopped the serious cycling fanatics from getting into the track - Shaharudin Jaffar, Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz and Datuk Naim Mohamad included. Rosman Alwi, who said he'd meet me there didn't turn up though!!


Then, slowly but surely, by about 9.30pm after the first of the riders - Akmal Amrun and Amir Mustafa Rusli - arrived to register, it slowly built up into the race that Fairoz and Hardi had wanted, complete with 'guest star appearances' by Olympians Rizal Tisin and Edrus Yunus, along with their elite sprints teammate Junaidi Nasir. Their coach John Beasley was also on hand, helping out the riders and giving valuable advice to Fairoz. Of the trio, only Rizal contested the race, and of course won the keirin. Junaidi only found out an hour before the race and did well to make it to the track swiftly.
Edrus was there lending a helping hand to the younger riders and did show off some bike handling skills. As you can see below.

Rizal came decked in his Selangor jersey. Long time since he raced in it I suppose... But the centre of attention was his really, really gorgeous BT Stealth bike..

Top road sprinter, Anuar Manan, who's due to leave for Iran to ride with the Azad University team in a week's time, also made himself available and did give the pure track sprinters a run for their money. I fact, he finished third in the keirin, behind Rizal and Harnizam Basri.

In fact, the RM100 that Anuar won for third place, was a historic feather in his big cap, as it was his first pay packet from a track race. What other talents does this 22-year old have!!!!??

In all, it was a strong show of support from the local cycling fraternity. How else could you explain a climber starting a keirin race! Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi did...

Pic: This second round heat had a star-studded cast. First from left is Akmal Amrun, in the middle of the picture is Anuar and Rizal starting side by side. Not wanting anyone to 'touch' his rider, John Beasley aptly helped out Rizal at the start. hehehe....

Pic: And this was the cast for the final. Notice there were nine finalists. and John Beasley was starting Akmal, not Rizal!!

The atmosphere wasn't spectacular. Half the floodlights temporarily went off for half and hour at 10.30pm. But there was some Press, yours truly included. Even RTM made their way and were busy interviewing Datuk Astaman before the start of the scratch race, which was won by Zamani Mustaruddin.

This was the field for the scratch race. Quite a nice number, being briefed by Fairoz before the start..

And if there's any award for a guy who just becomes automatically so generous whenever it comes to cycling, it should go to Datuk Astaman. He'd arrived at the track and enjoyed the race, then brought smiles to the faces of the whole place when he just doubled the prizemoney with another RM800 and Rm200 to the organisers for the next round. Duly, he had the honour of presenting the prizes.

I must say, it was a good start to something seriously good like the Keirin Open. Imagine, it was born out of the frustrations of a young coach and the support of lifelong friends he'd made during his cycling career. Fairoz was having trouble getting the budget approved and released so that he could train his boys and girls at night, under floodlights, during the Ramadhan period. So, some friends got together, pooled together rather, and collectively funded the race out of their own pockets.

There were some big contributors, mostly small contributors. Most, like my boss Vijesh Rai, who'd been smitten by the keirin bug after covering the event at the Olympics and watching our Pockey Rocket Azizul Hasni in Beijing, contributed out of their wish to see more Malaysian superstars come to the fore.

We've held the Asian Championships keirin title for three years now. I guess we're soon on our way to making the keirin, a truly Malaysian event.

Some of our dreams, are 'Powered by Ferrari'

That's Fairuz Fauzy on board A1 Team Malaysia's new Ferrari car at the new-look Donington Park circuit in the UK. On Wednesday, Fairuz smashed the late Ayrton Senna's lap record, set on board a McLaren-Ford F1 car that won the 1993 European Grand Prix at the circuit.
If you require a little dose of pride, just go check out the swiftly updated Wikipedia records on Donington Park HERE
You'll see on the right of the page, Lap record 1:17.474s (Fairuz Fauzy, A1 Team Malaysia, A1GP 2008)..
Sure did brighten up my day!

A painful trek to the future

Covered a Press conference held by national coach John Beasley at the National Sports Council today, one in which the Australian announced his aspirations to transform the entire cycling programme into one that's worthy of challenging the world.
First off was a course to train and educate coaches manning the 13 centres of excellence and two academies in the country and bring them up to levels which would deem them capable of producing cyclists of caliber within our own shores.
As usual, I was asked by my buddies from the Press to take charge and lead the way with questions, thus it turned a bit heated as well, when I got a lame answer from NSC's head of development Jefri Ngadirin, for my questions of the lack of local competitions to sustain elite riders under track programmes.
The picture above is that of the back-up sprints squad under coach and former national rider Fairoz Izni Abdul Ghani. I had asked Fairoz what his riders were going to do, and again they were at a loss.
Personally, I expect those in the NSC to go and tell the riders and coaches to shut up and not speak to the Press or anybody about these "sensitive" issues, this country having those fickle minds that run our sport.
But back to serious business, Beasley seems like a good bet to drive a serious reform in how we look at development.
With the coaches well equipped to produce riders of calibre and nurture the talent available, all that is needed is competitions. Well, firstly at least. And to this, the NSC answered they had or were supposed to have three... Yes, I repeat, THREE (3).. this year and "if they weren't able to hold it this year, they'll have it next year". I was fuming inside, puzzled and confused.
Of course, the MNCF too relies on the NSC a bit too heavily, so we can continue dreaming.
Come on, you've got the riders and with 13 COEs, two academies, I'd bet there'd be about at least a hundred riders readily available. So, what can they look forward to? Jefri said there'll be international competitions either this year or next year. Or something like that. The fact remains, there aren't any local track races, so the riders just keep on training if they're above the 18-year old age group, before which they have four rounds of the SportExcel National Junior Circuit for track events. Even that, I must say, was initiated by the Foundation for Malaysian Sporting Excellence (SportExcel) three years ago as a supplement to the road circuit, after being advised by us at the New Straits Times.
Self belief was what Beasley said we needed, as has been proven by Azizul Hasni Awang and Rizal Tisin, since they went under his charge two years ago. But I think we need more than that. WE must firstly WANT to do it. We must WANT to push Malaysian cycling to the next level, and collectively at that.
I'd already been surprised when I walked into the room where the coaching course was conducted, shortly before the Press conference began today, when I found all those regular faces which I've grown accustomed to seeing in all our local races. These are the same coaches that are going to run the show. No offence to them, as all of them are my good friends. But we need new blood as well. New, younger coaches and many of them. It takes a bit more time, said Beasley. So, we'll wait for that.
In the meantime, if any of you are keen to watch some exciting keirin racing in our home court at the KL Velodrome, drop by this Saturday. Fairoz's boys and a few other will be in the Keirin Open, a new series launched by buddies just for the love of the sport.
A few of us, yours truly included, are chipping in. You can too. They'll pass the hat around to collect any amount you wish to donate. That will be the prizemoney.
Fairoz was having a hard time trying to kick the thing off. There was no support from those supposed to be helping it. So, a few friends came in handy for for him.
I think it will be a good thing if Fairoz really gets it started. Let's go help them out, however we can. Just show up at the velodrome at about 10pm Saturday night. Seriously.

Our Ah Keong, a winner at last!!!

The national road cycling team came home after six days of racing in the Tour de Thailand today. And there's just this proud feeling in me about the victory that our man from Kuala Krai, Loh Sea Keong got on Stage Three of the race last Wednesday.
Anybody who knows the road squad and the riders in it, will know what Ah Keong is all about. He's always been the worker, a really hard one at that. He'd broken barriers to open the eyes of the cycling fraternity.
But yet, until last Wednesday, this 22-year old had only been known for the sacrifices he'd made and the courageous person that he is.
Embedded in my own memory was the way Ah Keong rode in Le Tour de Langkawi in 2006. His Discovery Channel-Marco Polo team had been hard hit from the start, losing their sprinter Sergey Kudentsov through illness before the start of the race, then down went their Chinese rider Xin Yandong. By Stage Two, Marco Polo were left with three riders. Ah Keong had nobody to work for.
From then on, Ah Keong rode like a man possessed. Everyday on race radio, you hear: "Attack, by number 156, Loh Sea Keong, Discovery Channel-Marco Polo." Everytime you hear: "There's now an new attack by a group of riders...." You could be sure number 156 was there.
That picture you see above, was at the end of Stage Seven of LTDL 2006, where Ah Keong was part of an 11-man breakaway and did well to finish seventh. In the meantime, he'd caused a sensation when he attacked solo as the bunch rode into his hometown of Kuala Krai, announcing on the following TV camera: "This is my hometown. I'm from here."
Everytime, Ah Keong rides now, we we can't help but hope for the same thrilling performance. But he doesn't get the opportunity, simply because he's a teammate and works for his team leaders.
So, after doing so much, Ah Keong deserved every bit of his win in Thailand last Wednesday. His first UCI race stage win. And we hope for more to come. Go Ah Keong!!!

UPDATE!

Here's the picture of Ah Keong winning the third stage of the Tour de Thailand, furnished by the winner himself. Look! Solo across the finish line. That's the way!! Thanks Ah Keong...

Only the weak and those who want to weaken us, say no...

Just look at the list from the International Cycling Union (UCI). This is the list of qualifiers for this year's Under-23 World Championships in Varese, Italy at the end of this month, showing those countries who had made it via the UCI Asia Tour.
Not too long ago did I hear silly voices saying it is too difficult for our boys to do it. Even now, if you read a blaring example in today's Berita Harian, you can see that even within us, there are people with really weak, colonialistic minds, who think we are a country meant to breed painfully weak people. No, we don't believe that. We must strive, and keep believing we can do it. Step by step.
You don't tell our young and eager riders, they're too young and need to learn a lot more before they step up. That was how it worked when the mediocre athletes we have now and in the past, were coming up. Now, we tell them there's nothing to stop you from going for it. Your time is always NOW. Nobody can tell you you can't do it, or you have to wait a bit longer before you can do it. Life is about trying every single minute of every single day. If you don't, others will.
And just a note to prove the point. Those running the road programme in the MNCF and NSC never believed we could have road riders qualifying for the World Championships, even in the Under-23 category. I can vouch for that for I've been on the ground and gathered the consensus. Just a handful believe so and it was the riders from the ill-funded Le Tua team, who scrapped the bare bottom of any barrel they could find to ensure their riders could continue riding. Quietly, apart from the big bang they served up in the Jelajah Malaysia in January and Le Tour de Langkawi this year, they delivered.
And there, right on the top, you have it. Malaysia, ranked number two in Asia, all courtesy of one little team with big dreams. The Le Tua Cycling Team. They turned out to be the team that single-handedly gathered 85% of the points required to place Malaysia second among under-23 nations in the Asia Tour rankings.
And this, I can tell you my friends, is just the beginning.