KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) advisor Danny Feng has urged both the Malaysian sporting authorities as well as local cycling fans to give the national road cycling team the support they deserve.
The American said he was "really sad" about the lack of support the national road team received in the lead up to Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) which concluded last week.
Unlike UCI continental sides such as TSG and Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC), the national road squad does not train together year-round but only trains for a number of months before key competitions such as LTdL.
"The reason the national team does not train year-round is not because they don't want to, it is because of a complete lack of funding," said Danny recently.
"They compete using bikes they buy on their own and before LTdL they (national team coaches) were going around asking (people) for money to buy things like chains, tires and tubes for the riders.
"How do you expect them to compete against world class riders (in LTdL) when they are already on sub-par equipment?
"They told me how much allowance they were given for their training camp before LTdL and it was barely enough to pay for three meals a day, and not even at a restaurant, but just at a mamak stall.
"With that kind of budget you cannot expect any kind of results.
"I know that they received an invite for the Tour of Poyang Lake (Sept) but they didn't even have the money to buy flight tickets.
"That is the problem, there is no support for the national team at all, which is really sad."
Abdul Azim Aliyas, Afiq Huznie Othman, Elmi Jumari, Ren Bao Tsen, Yusri Shaari and Muhsin Al Redha Misbah had competed for the national team during LTdL under the guidance of coach Yusof Nasir.
Danny stressed that both the government and cycling fans should play their part to help the national team.
"The federal government has not given the team much attention in terms of funding," said Danny.
"I know there are many different bodies such as the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF), National Sports Council (NSC) and so on, involved but I believe we should put politics aside and put rider development as a priority.
"I just want to bring this to attention, something needs to be done about this.
"I also spoke about this during the LTdL broadcast (as a commentator) and urged Malaysians to support these guys.
"I know that Malaysians (the public) have RM30,000 bikes they barely use for coffee rides. Why don't you just use five per cent of that to support the national team.
"Many also have old parts laying around that can be sold-off instead of collecting dust.
"You can also give your old parts to the team and they can sell it and use it to fund the team."
Danny is a former pro rider himself and had helped form TSG in 2011. TSG is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the UCI AsiaTour and is No. 36 in the world.
Danny continues to oversee TSG's rider signings and other aspects of the team's management.
He was speaking during a recent TimeSport on the Beat podcast episode which will be available on Spotify, Audioplus and Apple Podcast beginning Thursday (Oct 17).