Dr M calls on more corporate companies to sponsor sporting events

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged more corporate companies to contribute financially to the organisation of international sporting events like the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) in Malaysia.

Singling out Petronas for its involvement in international sports, the prime minister thanked the national oil and gas company for stepping forward to be a title sponsor of the 25th edition of the LTdL together with several other corporate companies.

Mahathir, who mooted the idea of LTdL in 1996, stressed that financial support from corporate companies is important to ensure the successful organisation of international sports events in the country although the government does have special allocations to help the organisers.

"Normally, this type of race (LTdL), just like F1, requires big expenditure,” he told reporters after presenting prizes to winners of the stage three LTdL 2020 in front of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur today.

Also present were his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali and Kuala Lumpur Mayor Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan.

Mahahtir said the staging of LTdL in the past 25 years had attracted many people in the country to take up cycling for recreation.

He also expressed confidence that talented Malaysian cyclists would have the opportunity to participate in several leading international championships overseas in the future.

"From among those participating, we will find those who are talented. They need to be trained up to a level where they can compete in a cycling race like this,” Mahathir added.

NTT Pro Cycling Team rider Maximilian Richard Walscheid from Germany won stage three, which covered a distance of 162.5km from Dataran Temerloh to the Petronas Twin Towers.

Italian Riccardo Minali of Nippo Delko Provence was second and Team Sapura Cycling’s Ahmet Orken of Turkey was third.

The head of the jury awarded a time of 3 hr 51 min and 42 sec to all the top 10 finishers who crossed the finishing line in a sprint bunch.

- Bernama