THERE'S still a chance Road to London Programme dropout Rizal Tisin might make it into next year's Olympic Games but that will depend on a seemingly uninterested Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).
The former 1km time trial Asian champion and World Championships bronze medallist will have no problems quitting track cycling to focus on BMX racing full time should there be support for riders in that programme to qualify.
Having been recently dropped from the Road to London programme, Rizal is still in with a realistic chance of making the Olympics through the BMX route.
The Olympic qualification format for BMX racing is simple, done entirely via the coming BMX World Championships in Birmingham next May.
All Malaysia need to do is hold a national championship and the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) will have to fill a quota of three men and three women based on the results of the national meet as the country's representation at the world meet.
"The problem is not whether we want to do it. There isn't much interest in getting the BMX team under a proper programme," said Rizal.
Rizal said apart from himself, Mohd Elmi Jumari and Mohd Aim Mohd Fauzi are keen on pursuing more serious attempts at qualifying for the Olympics.
"If there is the support, for sure we have no problem giving our commitment towards this," said Rizal.
"We have asked MNCF BMX committee chairman Ibrahim Mustapha about this, but he has not given us any positive indications."
Ibrahim, when contacted, said the federation had been evaluating the performances of the BMX team in races in Singapore, South Korea and the recent Asian Championships in China.
"Based on the performances, the riders have a long way to go. That's why we will have to evaluate them again based on performances in the Sea Games," said Ibrahim.
"We don't even have sufficient facilities yet for the riders to train. We've just started having races this year on a track in Malacca, which is far from the level of tracks at international level.
"There's still a lot to be done. But firstly, we want to see how the riders perform."
The former 1km time trial Asian champion and World Championships bronze medallist will have no problems quitting track cycling to focus on BMX racing full time should there be support for riders in that programme to qualify.
Having been recently dropped from the Road to London programme, Rizal is still in with a realistic chance of making the Olympics through the BMX route.
The Olympic qualification format for BMX racing is simple, done entirely via the coming BMX World Championships in Birmingham next May.
All Malaysia need to do is hold a national championship and the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) will have to fill a quota of three men and three women based on the results of the national meet as the country's representation at the world meet.
"The problem is not whether we want to do it. There isn't much interest in getting the BMX team under a proper programme," said Rizal.
Rizal said apart from himself, Mohd Elmi Jumari and Mohd Aim Mohd Fauzi are keen on pursuing more serious attempts at qualifying for the Olympics.
"If there is the support, for sure we have no problem giving our commitment towards this," said Rizal.
"We have asked MNCF BMX committee chairman Ibrahim Mustapha about this, but he has not given us any positive indications."
Ibrahim, when contacted, said the federation had been evaluating the performances of the BMX team in races in Singapore, South Korea and the recent Asian Championships in China.
"Based on the performances, the riders have a long way to go. That's why we will have to evaluate them again based on performances in the Sea Games," said Ibrahim.
"We don't even have sufficient facilities yet for the riders to train. We've just started having races this year on a track in Malacca, which is far from the level of tracks at international level.
"There's still a lot to be done. But firstly, we want to see how the riders perform."

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