Guangzhou: The UAE's cycling coach has made a plea for better governmental support for the sport to realise the full potential of the country's cyclists.
"We don't even know what the true potential of our cyclists is simply because they have never been able to perform at such a high level," UAE's cycling coach Abdullah Swaidan told Gulf News yesterday.
The UAE cyclists were among the few athletes to come up with relatively good performances as both qualified to their respective finals at the Guangzhou Velodrome here yesterday.
Mohammad Al Murwwi was placed 17th among the 24 riders in the Men's Points Race Final, while teammate Badr Ali Al Beloushi was eighth in the Men's Kierin Finals yesterday.
Vladimir Tuychiev of Uzbekistan went on to win the Men's Points Race ahead of Wong Kam Po of Hong Kong and Iranian Mehdi Sohrabi, while it was a one-two finish for Malaysia through Azizulhani Awang and Josiah NG in the Men's Kierin that witnessed a horrific crash between China's Zhang Lei and Iran's Mohammad Parash later in the afternoon.
"For us, having such standings in a competition like an Asian Games means we are doing something right for cycling," Swaidan noted.
"But I doubt we have managed to see the true potential of our cyclists. These Asian Games have been a good yardstick as the competition has been the toughest. But we need to do better and for this we would need even more support from the government," he added.
Coming to the Asian Games, the UAE cyclists spent three weeks in an external training camp. "But cyclists from other countries have been preparing for the past four years, unlike us who have camps in fits and starts. We need to set a long-term programme and then go about it. Only then will we get the desired results," Swaidan said.
UAE cyclists will commence their next challenge here when they participate in the road races starting from November 20. First up will be Mohammad Al Murwwi in the individual time trials on November 20, while Yousuf Bin Hammad and Al Murwwi will take part in the men's road race on November 22.