Another lost sport

Abdul Basit shares about his journey in cycling and future goals for the country

 It is hard to imagine cycling being a part of a hardcore sports event and yet Pakistan holds a National Track Cycling Championship under the banner of the Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) each year.

This year, the 67th edition of the event took place and Abdul Basit, a member of the Pakistan WAPDA Cycling Team, hailing from Peshawar, was one of the many participants that exceeded expectations there.

“It is funny that I was not even that fond of cycling in my early years. I was set on becoming a cricketer and had a great passion for the game. However, I owned a mountain bike that I used to ride to school,” Basit said while talking to Bol News.

“At the time, I had a friend who loved to practice stunts on my bike and seeing him, I also got involved in the sport. Then he even took me to district trials and I got selected at the district and provincial levels.

“The next year, I was part of the national event and the year after that, I think in 2015 or 16, I became the national champion and also raised the record for the fasted 500-metre circuit. That record is still unbroken,” he continued as he shared his journey in the world of track cycling.

Two organisations — one career

Talking about joining a government department to represent them in track racing tournaments in the country as well as outside it, he said: “I joined WAPDA in December 2018 and won my first gold for them in 2019.”

“For one reason or the other, I was not able to participate in the national championship for two years. This year, however, I was able to not only participate but also win another gold for them. Not only that but I also won a team challenge for WAPDA this year around,” he further said.

However, despite his numerous notable stints with WAPDA, Basit’s career was hindered due to the political tension between PCF and WAPDA, resulting in the loss of two important years for Basit’s cycling.

“These years were my best, I was in my prime, in terms of my progress as a professional as well as my fitness and training and I was on the correct path. All that came to a halt because WAPDA was not invited to any events for nearly three years.

“Every time we heard an event was coming up, we would all train for it in the hopes that the issues would be resolved and we would be able to participate but to no avail, up until now. And so, the results are in front of you, the first chance I got I bagged a gold for the department.”

The WAPDA cyclist continued to vent about his reservations within the system.

“Another big disadvantage of this situation was that usually when a player won a gold medal in any tournament, they were made permanent employees of WAPDA, and those who were already permanent were given a higher rank.

“Even though I had won a gold medal, I was not given a permanent position and since then I have been enquiring about it, but in vain,” Basit lamented.

“It all comes down to this”

The player, however, is still hopeful and believes that now that he can, because of having an individual and a team gold medal to his name, his situation might just become better.

Despite that, he stressed upon the importance of monetary benefits as he believed that no matter how much passion an individual possesses, it all comes down to how well they are being paid.

“At the end of the day, one can be as passionate about the sport as ever, but if they do not get the right kind of payout the struggle only becomes harder to bear,” he said. “Departments shutting down in the previous government’s tenure had an adverse effect on the players as well as the sports. The truth is, no player can truly concentrate on their performance while having to worry about their economic situation.

“Very few people are privileged enough to do just fine without getting paid by their departments. But most of us out here have families to support and that is nearly impossible if we are not being compensated for our skill.”

Discussing his family dynamics and the need for economic stability even as a professional sportsman, Basit said that his father owns a small hardware shop while his brother is a small contractor in the city.

“While it seems like I was very economically stable with what I’ve told, it is not quite the case as I am expected to support myself as well as help out with the day-to-day household expenses,” he said.

Avenues to tap

Basit also discussed the possible future prospects in the field of cycling and what avenues and opportunities can be created by utilizing cycling as a sport in the country.

He said that despite work being done at the private level to promote cycling in his hometown Peshawar, where the organization of Tour De Galiat has been formed, there has been very little or nothing of that sort on the government level.

“This is sad because the sport has so much potential of becoming a major crowd-puller and it can even help tourism flourish in KPK.

“I currently use a cycle worth around half a million, which I imported from England and it is one of the lower-quality models. Good track racing bikes are worth at least a million or more and then one has to pay import duties and custom fares. The government should tap this market and at least work towards either producing world-class bikes here or removing the high duties and taxes on the important of such items,” Basit suggested.

He added that he wished the government and the federation would work together towards creating a model where sportsmen and women are facilitated in bringing glory to the country, be it the Olympic medals or other international accolades.

“To bring these achievements back home, we need better tracks, equipment and international-level training and when these things are taken care of, there will be no reason for us to hold back,” he said.

Vows

While talking about the lack of facilities, Basit went on to state about the infrastructural limitations that players and cyclists, in particular, have to face in Pakistan.

“Right now the situation is such that we have to practice track racing in Lahore. I and my teammates often talk about how much better it would be if we had tracks in each province and especially in every major city where we would all be able to practice closer to home all year round rather than just a couple of weeks before each event.

“And truly, even the tracks that exist are not that great. When we go out for international events, we get a chance to witness how we stack up against other countries’ players and it is not great. It is largely because most tracks at the international level are wooden and of great quality, while the ones we practice on are concrete and not in great condition.”

Basit further revealed that it was his dream to own international standard bikes and practice on tracks that can help him and his teammates flourish in the international arena.

“We hope our dreams will one day become reality so that we can reciprocate those efforts by bringing laurels to our country,” he concluded.