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India can host World Cups, World C'ships: global cycling chief

With a world-class velodrome available here, Cycling's international body chief Brian Cookson today said that India can host big global events like the World Cup series and World Championships in the near future.

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With a world-class velodrome available here, Cycling's international body chief Brian Cookson today said that India can host big global events like the World Cup series and World Championships in the near future.

Cookson, who was here for the Asian Track Championships that concluded today at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium velodrome, said he was impressed with the facility and the International Cycling Union (UCI) would be ready to allot big global events if India wants to host them.

"I can tell you, we are in discussion with our friends from the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) about the possibilities of bringing bigger and more events here. It can be World Cup series, we have six of those every year. There is no reason why one of the World Cups cannot come to India," he told reporters at a press conference.

"It can be World Championships perhaps in future years, all these things are possible. We would look to work with the friends here in India and from the government so that these things can happen," he added.

Asked if the UCI was also looking to explore the possibility of developing other forms of Olympic cycling like road cycling, mountain biking and BMX racing, he said, "We are to exploit them in India with the help of CFI and with support from government.

"What is important is how far our friends in CFI have been able to put up strategic plans and whether the towns and cities and governments in the country (India) can provide facilities (for these various forms of cycling)," said the Briton who is expected to seek re-election for a second term later this year.

Cycling has been one of the sports hit by doping scandal in the recent past but Cookson said that his sport has learnt from the mistakes and has done its best to clean it up.

"There are always some percentage of people who try to cheat in any walk of life or in any profession. We are working with WADA to try and see that our processes are as thorough and as independent as possible. We have a Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation which tests all cyclists in international competitions. We have independent judicial bodies that control the tribunals for anti-doping," he said when asked about how the UCI has been tacking the menace of doping.

"So, there is no possibility of conflict of interest from someone like me who might be tempted to try to cover up some bad news. There is none of those possibilities. We have the best possible impartial standards. We have used all of our processes with help from outside anti-doping experts. We have set up a cycling independent reform commission to look at all of the problems of the past and to make sure that we don't repeat those mistakes." More

 

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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