Cyclists bid farewell to KL Velodrome with heavy hearts
MEMORIES are all the Malaysian track cyclists will have left as they bid farewell to the Kuala Lumpur Velodrome as it held its last tournament, the Junior State Track Cycling Championship 2017, yesterday.
It may be the last tournament held at the 29-year old velodrome but according to former Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad, athletes are allowed to use the facility until June in order to prepare for Sea Games.
“I was informed that Jakel (Trading Sdn Bhd) and DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) will allow the velodrome to be used for training purposes at least until the end of June,” he said.
Built in 1988, the velodrome was once host to big track cycling events such as the World Cup Qualifiers, Sea Games, Asian Cup Championship, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) events and the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
“We saw champions born here and even Azizulhasni (Awang) grew up on the track of this velodrome, so we are gratefully indebted for the memories.”
The National Velodrome in Nilai is expected to be completed next month and will be the first venue to be ready for the 2017 Sea Games and Asean Para Games.
Naim is optimistic Malaysia have a bright future in track cycling with rising talents all around such as Asian Cycling Championship bronze medallist Muhd Shah Firdaus Sahrom’s younger brother Muhd Ridwan.
“The future of track (cycling) is bright with various talents all around, including Firdaus Sahrom’s brother .
“We (Malaysia) have proven that track cycling can be a gold mine and a place where we can produce medals as proven by our local cyclists.” Farah Azharie