Sindh’s Asif continues to lead in stage four

WAPDA’s Bhatti pulls out after collision in Tour de Pakistan.

KARACHI:

Sindh’s Asif Junior continued his blistering performance, topping the charts on the fourth stage of the Tour de Pakistan yesterday, while Wapda suffered a setback when teammate Nazir Bhatti was forced to retire as he broke his collar bone after a collision with five other riders.

However, Pakistan Army took advantage of the situation as their top cyclists Mohammad Rafiq and Zahid Mehmood grabbed second and third places after an eventful day, which left the tour-favourite,  Wapda’s Sabir Ali, in the fifth position.

But despite a bad day, Sabir is still leading the 13-day race by an overall margin of four minutes and three seconds after winning the first two stages from Karachi to Moro.

Asif, however, clinched the top spot in the third and fourth stages of the race. The 25-year-old outran 57 other cyclists in five hours 10 minutes and 42 seconds to cover the distance of 178 kilometres from Sukkur to Rahim Yar Khan. Rafiq followed him to the finish line with the difference of 10 seconds and Mehmood took the third position in five hours 11 minutes and 12 seconds.

The 1,620-kilometre race with the route stretched from the south to the northern areas of the country is contended by the sports departments of Wapda, Army, Pakistan Railways, Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC), Fata, Afghanistan and four provincial teams. The cyclists are competing for the prize-money of $10,000.

“I’m still struggling to beat Sabir on the track,” Asif told The Express Tribune. “The four- minute lead is massive for any racer and I need to finish the next three rounds to level the score with Sabir.

“It’s a tough task. I’m the only cyclist from any provincial team who is giving a tough time to the departmental teams. I do feel that if my team was a little stronger, I would have better chances at winning the race.”

According to Asif, who has been cycling for seven years, the trick is to stay focused even if other racers call his name during the race to distract him. He said that the collisions occur between the cyclists on the track because they start chasing each other and get involved in verbal duals, as a result of which they lose their concentration.

Asif said that he escaped the collision between Afghanistan and Wapda cyclists in the same way yesterday.

The collision near Basti Ranjhe Kot brought down Wapda’s Bhatti when Afghan cyclist Hashmatulah lost his balance on the track and hit Bhatti’s cycle. Bhatti, who broke his collar bone in the collision, left the race.

“It was hard for me to go on knowing that one of our team members is out of the race. However, this has given me a reason to fight harder,” said Sabir.

After a day’s rest, the cyclists will resume tomorrow to cover the distance 200 kilometres from Rahim Yar Khan to Bahawalpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2011.