LAHORE: The 69th National Track Cycling Championship is set to start here at the Nishtar Sports Complex’s velodrome on Friday, with a total of 165 athletes — men and women — to represent 10 teams, according to Pakistan Cycling Federation president Syed Azhar Ali Shah.

Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa, Balochistan, Islam­abad, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, Gilgit-Baltistan, Wah Ordnance Factory, Crank Addicts and Bekistan Cycling Academy are the teams which will feature in the event, which concludes on Dec 29.

The first day of the race will see finals of eight different events decided.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Azhar, responding to a question about the PCF’s failure to hold the Tour de Pakistan race since 1995, said a tournament of that scale would not be possible to organise given that it would require disallowing traffic on the country’s main highways.

Azhar said that doing so on the GT Road, which is does not fall under the National Highway Authority, would also be a difficult task due to the rise of population in towns situated along it.

He added that safety along the said routes was also a concern.

However, Azhar noted that cycling races on some small distances were being organised in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.

Azhar criticised the Pakistan Olympic Association’s act of disaffiliating the PCF from its recognised national sports federations’ list, saying that the cycling body’s legitimacy stood acknowledged by the Asian and international governing bodies of the sport.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024