Pakistan to skip Track Asia Cup Cycling to be held in India

Pakistan to skip Track Asia Cup Cycling to be held in India

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Pakistan will not participate in the upcoming Track Asia Cup Cycling event to be held from November 18 to 20 in India because of internal problems afflicting Pakistan's cycling body.

Track Asia Cup Cycling will be a three day event to be held at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi. A 2016 Rio Olympics qualification event, it will feature 13 teams from 10 countries including one professional cycling team – Team ASTANA.

In relation to Pakistan’s participation in the event, Secretary General of Cycling Federation of India Onkar Singh confirmed that Pakistan was invited to participate in the event but did not send any official response.

"We sent invitation to Pakistan Cycling Federation but they did not give any official response. We wanted Pakistan to take part in the event and we told them that we will arrange for flight tickets for their cyclists from Lahore. But they did not send any entry," Singh said to PTI.

Onkar Singh also clarified that Pakistan’s non– participation is not due to any security issues. "It's nothing to do with security or other issues related to India. It's not like what is going on in other sports (cricket). I spoke on phone to officials of their cycling federation and they said due to factions in their national body, they will not be able to send their entries," he told PTI.

Being the host country, India will field two additional teams apart from Team India in SAINCA and CFI at the three-day event. SAINCA is the cycling academy jointly managed by Sports Authority of India and Cycling Federation of India at cycling velodrome. This is the second time India is hosting the event after the inaugural edition last year.  

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