Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of Cycling Federation of Nigeria (CFN), Giandomenico Massari, on Wednesday said the federation was aiming to raise the standard of the professional aspect of cycling.
Massari told sports journalists in Abuja that they must first of all raise the standard of the sport.
“Most importantly, the standard is not for the athletes but for all professional field workers that are part of cycling, like the coaches, trainers, mechanics, etc.
”For the professional field work to train the athletes they are expected to be of high standard and that is why we intend to raise their standard too.
‘’Good programming in grassroots and scouting new talents will help to develop the future cyclists.
‘’We are scouting for new athletes from the grassroots, and this is very important because with time age progression will begin to affect the performance of the present athletes we are parading,” he said.
Massari added that they were intending to organise coaching, as well as commissaries programmes of international standard later this year.
“With the assistance of the federation, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) can give appropriate certification and standard to the professionals.
”This is necessary so that we can have standard for our coaching, commissaries who can officiate not only in Nigeria but outside the country and continent. We want to take Nigeria to the world,’’ he said.
The UCI is the world governing body of cycling, grouping together 197 national federations.
