Lina heads cycling’s new board

Bert Lina was elected along with 10 others to the board of the national federation of cycling Sunday, a development perceived as the shot in the arm Philippine cycling urgently needs.

Lina, chairman of Air21 which principally bankrolled the revival of the fabled Tour, towed his team composed of back-to-back Tour champions Cornelio Padilla Jr. and Paquito Rivas, Arthur Cayabyab and Jun Lomibao to the 15-man board which will serve a term of one Olympic cycle or four years.

Also elected were Leo Magaway, Antonio Cruz, Fred Corda, Armando Bautista, Jose Ferrer, Carlos Gredonia, Armando Camiling and Col. (ret.) Romeo Modelo who all run under the unity ticket that included the Lina team, and independent candidates Alberto Garcia and Jojo Villa.

Dato‚ Seri G. Darshan Singh, the Malaysian president of the Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) and a member of the powerful management committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), witnessed the entire proceeding at the multi-purpose gym of the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit also dropped by during the elections participated in by 206 cycling clubs from all over the country.

Confident that Philippine cycling has gotten a new lease on life, Darshan granted to the Philippines the right to host the Asian Mountain Bike Championships in 2004. The championships are staged annually with the 2003 edition, which has drawn 18 of the 37 member countries of the ACC, scheduled to start later this week in Japan.

"Today is a memorable day for Philippine cycling," said Darshan, a former newsman from the Malay Mail before being hooked to cycling, adding "the future of Philippine cycling is in your [board members] hands and don‚t let Philippine cycling suffer anymore."

Hardly was there any hitch in the conduct of the elections which was supervised by a body chaired by commissioner Hesiquio Mallillin of the Human Rights Commission and composed of journalist Ed Paez and Jesus Zapata.

The board members have decided to set at a later date the election of officers from among themselves.

With the elections, the Philippines avoided being suspended by the UCI, which warned that it would decide on the fate of the country, whose cycling federation has been in disarray because of leadership intramurals, when the world body holds its general assembly next month in its Switzerland headquarters.