Abd Karim regrets sudden cancellation of Tour of Sarawak (TOS) 2016

March 18, 2016

SIBU: The last-minute cancellation of ‘Tour of Sarawak (TOS) 2016’ cycling race has inconvenienced the participating teams as well as the supporting department and agencies, Assistant Youth Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said yesterday.

Expressing regret over the matter, he suggested that the organiser should have been more professional in organising an event of this magnitude.

“They should not have let the event be abruptly cancelled and causing so much inconvenience to participating teams, and supporting department and agencies.

“How could they keep silent till the end without informing participating teams that the event could not proceed. Surely, they would know about their financial standing months ago and could make a decision whether to go ahead with the race or not,” Abdul Karim, who is Asajaya assemblyman, added.

Though the sports of cycling in Sarawak would not be affected, the image of Malaysia and Sarawak would be tainted by dubious organisers like this, he opined.

Meanwhile, Bernama has reported that the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) was ready to foot the transportation bill of teams involved in the Tour of Sarawak (ToS) 2016 due to the cancellation of the tour at the eleventh hour.

MNCF president Datuk Abu Samah Abdul Wahab was reported to have described the episode (cancellation) as embarrassing.

The organiser was said to have cancelled the event that was supposed to have been flagged off on March 16, without giving any notice or reason to the teams that had arrived in Miri.

Based on the schedule issued by the organiser earlier, the first stage of the TOS 2016 was to be from Miri to Bintulu, a distance of 193 km.

Abu Samah also reportedly said to ensure there would not be another similar incident, MNCF would tighten requirements for organising cycling events in the country, especially for those new to the scene.

The ‘Tour of Sarawak 2016’, sanctioned by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) as a 2.2 Race Class and part of the UCI Asia Tour calendar, was scheduled to be held from today until March 20. It supposedly consists of five stages from north to south, starting in Miri to Bintulu, Bintulu to Sibu, Sarikei to Betong, Sri Aman to Serian and from Serian to Kuching.