LAHORE, March 19: Muhammad Asif of Pakistan Railways exhibited brilliant skill, speed and endeavour to win the 8th stage (Sahiwal to Lahore) of the 12th Tour de Pakistan cycle race after a photo-finish with an Iranian Reza Karimdad on Saturday. Asif clocked four hours, 59 minutes and 28 seconds to cover the 165 kilometre distance.
Both Asif and Reza were neck and neck after gaining a clear lead on other 49 competitors some 40 kilometres before the finishing point. But both gave each other a tough time before Asif eventually reached the distance at ‘Kalma Chowk’ with a difference of microseconds.
It was Asif’s second win in the race. He had won the fourth stage (Sukkar to Rahimyar Khan) covering the distance of 178 kilometres in five hours, one minute and 41 seconds.
“Yes, for me it was the toughest stage as I and Reza had been struggling for the top position for a long time. And I will dedicate my victory to my parents,” said a jubilant Asif.
“The participation of foreign cyclists in good number provided us a valuable opportunity to assess our strength and I think our timings are not too bad,” he said.
Javed Moosavi (Iran), Mr Thomas (Germany), Dilsher Ali (Wapda) and Naveed (Wapda) came 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively.
The riders will leave for the next stage (Lahore-Gujrat) on Monday from Shahdara Town, after a day’s rest on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) secretary Idrees Haider Khawaja told Dawn that the cash prizes had been increased to a lucrative amount of Rs2 million.
Idrees said that an amount of US$11,000 would be distributed among the top six foreigners. An amount of Rs1 million was at stake for the Pakistani cyclists, he said.
He said that it was the record prize amount offered for this event, and added that the Iranian team had been imposed time-penalty for refusing to take part in the 5th stage (Rahimyar Khan-Bahawalpur) under the pretext of bad roads.
“The roads’ condition is equal for all and the penalty was imposed on Iranian team according to the rules of the game,” he said.
He said that the decision to start the next stage from Shahdara Town instead of the finishing point had been taken because roads were being constructed in the city.
The cyclists from Germany, Iran, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are participating in the country’s biggest cycling event.
