Uzbekistan, China and Doha invited
24/11/2008

24th November 2008, KUALA LUMPUR: The National Teams of Uzbekistan, China and Doha has been invited to participate in the prestigious cycling tour in Asia, Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) which will be held from the 9th to 15th February next year.

Le Tour de Langkawi’s Executive Chairman, Tuan Haji Abu Samah b. Hj Abd Wahab said that those teams from Asia except for China has never participated in LTdL which will be the 14th edition next year.

"In LTdL 2009, only nine of the best National Teams from Asia will be given the opportunity to compete in the Hors status cycling tour.

"What is more important, this time around we invited the best teams not simply to fulfil the quota but to have a more challenging cycling tour," he said.

Abu Samah said that China’s National Teams previously had participated in LTdL but it has been awhile since then and he hopes that these teams will lined up their most experienced rider.

He said that the National Teams of Uzbekistan and Doha had recently participated and shown their prowess in the Governor Cup’s Cycling Championship of Melaka and also the Tour of Negeri Sembilan last July.

Rider of Cycling Team Doha, Rafal Chtioui managed to secure 2nd place in the first stage while the rider of Uzbekistan National Team secured the 3rd place in the second stage in the Governor Cup in Melaka.

In the tour of Negeri Sembilan, rider from Uzbekistan National Team, Shaekov Vadim became the overall winner while Omar Hasanin of Team Doha in the fourth placing.

"These two teams have the capability to compete and challenge other Asian riders or even the Pro Tour’s riders. One thing for sure, we hope that their participation this time around will entice and attract more cycling enthusiasts locally and abroad to follow the tour," he said.

Team Doha is expected to line up its best riders, such as Abdelbaset Hannachi, Omar Hasanin, Khaleel Abduljanan and Afif Abdullah.

Abu Samah said that national Team of Uzbekistan will also be a challenge with riders such as Sergey Lagutin, Shaekhov Vadim, Mukhamedov Temur, Turaev Azamat, Malakhov Yaroslav and Karimov Ruslan.

"Recently during the Tour de Korea-Japan 2008, riders of Uzbekistan National Team, Sergey Lagutin managed to become the best rider of the two-country while the team was in the 2nd place for overall team," he said.

He said in overall, LTdL 2009 will be seeing 20 teams competing in the tour, each team lining up six riders.

He emphasized that teams from South Africa and Australia have confirmed their commitment and participation in the tour earlier on this year.

Abu Samah also said that another nine teams will be selected from the Pro Tour and Pro Continental Teams.

LTdL 2009 is organized by Kementerian Belia dan Sukan (KBS) along with Malaysia National Cycling Federation will be a seven-stage tour. The route of LTdL 2009 will be announced soon.

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