Hopes rising for cycle crew

Tomic’s back on circuit

CYCLING Australia high performance director Simon Jones says Matthew Glaetzer and Stephanie Morton can lead the medal charge at April’s Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The former British Cycling and Team Sky coach, after watching the national track titles in Brisbane, remains confident Australia is on target for the eight Commonwealth and four Olympic golds he outlined in his high performance strategy in October.

Australia managed only a silver and a bronze in Rio to put it 13th on the cycling medal tally – its worst result of the past six Olympics.

Jones is intent on fixing that in Tokyo and, as part of those plans, will send just four cyclists to the Netherlands’ world championships this month.

The rest will remain in Australia and prepare for the Commonwealth Games. Sixteen Commonwealth Games gold medals are up for grabs with the team already chosen before the nationals.

Jones wants at least eight and 25 medals in total.

“We’re in it to win Olympic medals,” Jones said of the decision to keep several world champions at home.

“This year is about having that rehearsal at the Commonwealth Games.” BERNARD Tomic has entered two Challenger tournaments in Europe as his first steps back to a career after his controversial television reality show appearance.

Tomic last week vowed to recommit himself to training to climb out of his career hole, after a rankings drop to No.168, despite encouragement from many experienced Australian tennis observers that he take a long break.

Tomic has targeted a Challenger level tournament in Lille, France, from March 19.

After that is a second Challenger in Alicante, Spain, from April 2 before entries in four more-prestigious ATP tournaments, not all of which he would ultimately play qualifying at as they are in consecutive weeks.

The Challenger entries are big because the 25-year-old has entered two of the less rich events at Challenger level in Europe at that time of year.