New lease of life for cycling

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Though leading the way in cycling for a long time, the Kerala team was ill-equipped with age-old cycles and other cycling equipment.

Riding on the recent victories in the national cycling championships, the Kerala government will fund the Sports Council to buy 10 track cycles and five road cycles. “The cycles used for competitions are expensive and each one costs between three to five lakh.

So government help will be a boon for the cyclists who are finding it difficult to train due to the shortage of cycles,” says D. Lawrance, secretary, Kerala Cycling Association.

Kerala were the national overall champions at the recently held National Cycling Championship track event held in Amritsar.

The Kerala team bagged the championship with 116 points while the runners up, the Haryana team was able to make only 90 points. The team won nine gold medals, nine silver medals and 18 bronze medals in the championship.

“The players are really elated to hear the news of the new cycles. The government has given them recognition and a reward for their work. We hope that the cycles will be sent in two or three weeks,” said Chandran Chettiar, Kerala team coach.

“Cycling has got a real boost in the state with this decision. There are already two training centres. The Kerala team is the national champions in the road event too.

We are waiting for the Indian team to be called up. At least 10 students may find a place in the camp. Last year eight Malayali’s took part in the camp for the Commonwealth Games and four took part in the event,” said the coach.

The Kerala team is now preparing for the Asian Cycling Championship to be held in New Delhi in 2013. “The cycles came as a gift from the government. Now, we can prepare and try to put the maximum number of cyclists from Kerala into the national team,” said Chandran.

“We already have four internationals. Our next event will be the Chennai Road Race, a prize money competition to be held from February 26 onwards. The players are training for the event,” he said.