TERENGGANU SPONSOR LTDL’S BEST OF ASIA JERSEY

---

Organiser of Le Tour de Langkawi 2023 (LTdL), National Sports Council (MSN) today introduced Terengganu state government as the main sponsor for the 27th edition of the race that will start in Kerteh on September 23.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS), Dr Nagulendran Kangayatkarasu, said the ministry is very grateful to the state government of Terengganu and Terengganu Tourism as they were the first to verbally give their willingness to sponsor LTdL 2023.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh, he said: “Terengganu’s initial commitment before the official launch of the tour on July 4, motivated MSN to try to get other sponsors so as to ensure the ProSeries-level race continues to be in the calendar of the International Cycling Union (UCI).

“This year, the Terengganu state government through their ‘Beautiful Terengganu’ tourism branding will sponsor ‘Asia’s Best Rider’ category who will be wearing the white jersey,” he said.

Also present at the ceremony was the Chairman of the Youth Development Committee, Sports and Terengganu NGO, YB Ustaz Hishamuddin Abdul Karim.

Dr Nagulendran said, the category of Asia’s Best Rider is quite synonymous with Terengganu because the state is nicknamed the ‘Land of Cyclists’ which gave birth to many talented national riders.

The white jersey is also considered unique as other than vying for the main jerseys, it also gives the Asian riders additional opportunity to compete against each other to see who is the best from the region.

Since the inception of LTdL in 1996, Adiq Hussaini Othman has emerged as the only Malaysian to have won the title of Best Asian Rider which he did in the 2016 edition.

Terengganu also have further bragging rights as prodigal son Anuar Manan was also the first Malaysian to win a stage in the annual race series after doing so on Stage 5 at LTdL 2010, in addition to dominating the Sprint leader’s jersey the same year.

Additionally, Marang-born Muhammad Nur Aiman Zariff who topped the King of the Mountain category in 2020 and 2022, will also have the chance to defend the jersey this year.

For this year’s edition, Terengganu is the starting location for Stage 1 of LTdL 2023 in Kerteh and Stage 2 in Kuala Terengganu, which will provided Harrif Saleh the motivation to add to his collection of victories after winning Stage 2 at LTdL 2019 and Stage 5 and Stage 7 at LTdL 2020.

“Through ‘live’ broadcast via sports broadcaster Eurosports and hundreds of millions of viewers on local television, social media platforms Youtube and TikTok, this will give multiple returns on the amount of sponsorship given,” he said.

Promotional programmes such as the calvacade parade and side events themed ‘Beautiful Terengganu’ will also be used to attract more domestic and foreign tourists to choose Terengganu as the main tourist destination in Malaysia.

Dr Nagulendran, who thanked Terengganu for producing many national riders on to the international stage, hopes strategic cooperation between KBS and the state government in LTdL 2023 will continue for future other events.

LTdL 2023 organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) through MSN in collaboration with the National Cycling Federation of Malaysia (PKBM) is a ProSeries level race that starts in Kerteh, this September 23, will go through 11 of the 12 states in the Peninsula, and end in front of the Twin Towers PETRONAS (KLCC) on September 30, involving a total distance of 1,277.1km.

A total of 22 teams consisting of two (2) WorldTeam status teams, eight (8) ProTeams, 10 UCI Continental, and 2 Continental teams including the Malaysian national squad will participate.