The President of the Cycling Federation of Nigeria (CFN), Giadomenico Massari, on Wednesday urged the media to support the federation by publicising the 2019 Africa Track Cycling Cup.
Massari, while speaking at a news conference in Abuja, said the greatest challenge facing the federation was finance.
“The media will play a great role in surmounting this challenge by creating awareness about the international championship we have at hand.
“This will attract more spectators from the FCT and the country,” he said.
He said the federation has done a lot towards improving its athletes in track cycling, saying they participated in the Africa Track Cycling Championship in December in South Africa.
“They won seven medals, are up of five silver and two bronze, and this shows that we have a lot of potential that will represent the country in international events.
“We have achieved lots of good results from the male and female categories,’’ Massari said.
The CFN president further said Mary Samuel, a Nigerian, is ranked number five in the junior category of track cycling in the world.
He then expressed his appreciation of efforts by the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports to provide a conducive environment for participants.
“We did not need money from the government to host this competition because they have given us a very good environment and conductive atmosphere for the championship.
“We are grateful for their immense support,’’ Massari said.
He said the federation had gone on to acquire 40 bikes from Algeria, Italy and France.
The CFN president also disclosed that cyclists from a total of 10 countries would participate in the Africa Cup Championship.
While disclosing that the contingent from one of the participating countries had arrived in Abuja Wednesday morning, Massari said the federation’s athletes would begin training this week.
“Burundi arrived in Abuja on Wednesday, while other countries, such as Burkina Faso and others who will arrive on Thursday, will come in before the end of the week.
“Nigeria is the only country that has Velodrome in this region. So, the federation will open camp for them to train before the commencement of the competition,’’ he said.
The federation president went on to explain why some of the participating teams were arriving a bit early for the championship.
“This is to enable them participate in pre-tournament activities, such as coaching course, training course for athletes and Commissar course (Referee course), which are all organised by the continental cycling body, the Confederation of African Cycling (CAC).”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Africa Track Cycling Championship, also known as the Africa Cup, will hold from July 26 to July 28.
It will hold at the Velodrome complex of the Moshood Abiola actionable Stadium in Abuja.(NAN)
