Cycling / le Tour de langkawi: Ismail is new boss of road team

NST Online>23/1/2008

By : Arnaz M. Khairul

 

LTdL chief operating officer Datuk Naim Mohamad (right) receives the sponsorship for the ‘King of the Mountains’ jersey from Kay Prakash (left), assistant vice president Corporate Services Genting Group, watched by tour technical director Maniam Manikam. Pic: HASAN ISMAIL

A SUDDEN change of management will hopefully, bring back to life the national road team’s preparations for Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) on Feb 9-17.

The Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) yesterday announced navy officer Commodore Ismail Othman will manage the team for LTdL.

He takes over from development team manager Yunus Ibrahim, who is said to be ill.

The team were forced to forgo plans to camp at their Senawang training base because of the lack of funds when the government had already set up a RM2.1 million development grant for that purpose.

In reality, these problems are not the only ones haunting the road programme.

MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad said all outstanding payments had been settled, while the team were asked to move into camp at the naval base in Lumut.

Coach Aminuddin Sulaiman and Ismail will have 10 riders to work with in Lumut beginning today.

“The executive committee were unaware of these grievances, but since they have come to light we have taken steps to immediately find solutions,” said Naim.

“It is not a demotion for Yunus. He is still in charge of the development team.

“I have also asked Aminuddin to officially inform us of all outstanding payments and what the team need for their preparations.”

The national road team were supposed to have been the main beneficiaries of the RM2.1 million development grant.

Instead, it was found that the team had been left scraping the barrel to cover running costs with their budget being held up for unclear reasons.

~ by missjewelz on January 23, 2008.