KUALA LUMPUR: Sayuti Zahit has urged both the Malaysia National Cycling Federation (MNCF) and National Sports Council (NSC) to give new national cycling technical director John Beasley the support he needs to improve the sport here.
The Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC) team principal is confident Beasley has many good ideas on how to help Malaysia improve across the board, including in the road, mountain biking (MTB) and bicycle motocross (BMX) disciplines.
Sayuti, however, stressed that those ideas will not bear fruit unless Beasley is given support and access to the resources needed to implement them.
"First off, I have to say I view John's appointment as technical director for all cycling disciplines positively," said Sayuti today.
"He definitely has the experience, expertise and contacts to help Malaysia grow stronger in cycling.
"But I really hope that MNCF and NSC will listen and try their best to help implement his ideas.
"It would be a shame if they were to brush off his views as this would essentially defeat the purpose of having him as technical director in the first place.
"The authorities also have to work hard to secure the resources needed to implement new programmes or initiatives under John.
"All too often we have heard that MNCF can't do this or that because they don't have the funds to do so. They have to figure it out and find the funding they need either through sponsorship or other means."
Sayuti was a former national track endurance rider before he started UCI continental sides Team Sapura Cycling and MPC.
Beasley, who has been dubbed the "father of Malaysian track cycling", previously coached the national track squad for almost two decades.
He has helped develop riders such as former world keirin champion Azizulhasni Awang, Fatehah Mustapa, Shah Firdaus Sahrom and more recently Izzah Izzati Asri, among many others.