The Cycling Federation of Nigeria (CFN) has trained 50 persons as officials to participate in the 2019 Africa Track Cycling Cup which begins on Friday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the officials are known as Commissaires, a generic term for an official in competitive cycling.
It is approximately equivalent to umpires or referees in other sports.
The vast majority of cycling events require two or more commissaires to fulfil a variety of actions.
NAN reports that the participants are from 10 countries and they took part in a three-day training organised by the federation.
Antonio Pagciara, the training’s instructor and an official of the Union Cycling International (UCI), told NAN that the training was a good development for cycling in Nigeria and in Africa.
The Italian said he was appointed to train the participants for the Africa Cup championship by the African Cycling Confederation (CAC) after a decision on it was taken by the UCI.
The instructor said a total of 50 participants were through coaching and commissaire courses.
“We started this training on Monday and Wednesday was the last day and it ended with examination.
“The federation decided to do this training so that they will have a wonderful event as from Friday.
“Every one of the participants will make a good impact on the championship ——- the cyclers, the commissaires and the coaches ——- because the federation is involving everyone in this pre-event programme.
“This is a good development for Africa and Nigeria.
“This is the first time in Nigeria and the first kind of event in track cycling and I think it is important to start with this.
“I hope this event will represent the beginning of many track races events for the future,” he said.
The Italian said participants had demonstrated good interest in the training and they were set to work with the federation to develop the sport in Nigeria.
“I noticed that they are ready to know more about track cycling. Some of them are good in commissaires and in special ranking which is a good quality we have in Nigeria.
“I think they will be a good basic for the starting point and they will be able to grow up and hope that they will be able to participate in the future as UCI commissaries,” he said.
NAN reports that the Africa Track Cycling Championship, also known as the Africa Cup, will hold from Friday to Sunday at the velodrome of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
NAN
