Four national cyclists are soon to be part of the Brunei based Continental Cycling Team (CCN).
Muhammad Raihaan Abd Aziz and Azmi@Loqman Hadzid are the two of the four that will be representing Brunei at the upcoming December Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect for the pair to help boost their motivation leading up to the games.
Nazri Mastani and Muhd Syazwi Azhar Mohd Hairdirani were the other two lucky riders.
This will be the third year Brunei national athletes have been associated with the team.
National cycling coach Yafiz Jamaludin (pic) believes this is a good situation for the cyclist to be professional riders.
"There isn't much difference to how it was before but now they will get the chance to race with the other professional riders in CCN," said Yafiz in an interview with The Brunei Times.
"So the selected local riders will form as a team with the foreign riders from CCN.
"Teams have the advantage to take part in more races.
"So I hope they will have more chances to join races next year," said Yafiz.
Yafiz, who started training the national team in 2010 never expected for them to reach this level after two years with them.
Though over the time, there have been positives and negatives from the national riders being a part of teams.
"We can't have all the riders in CCN or else we won't have a national team," said the Malaysian.
"I'm still happy the opportunity came our way though because this is a chance to make cycling a well-known sport in Brunei.
"It's not easy to come by, so we have to grab the chance to become a professional rider.
"Although the cyclist won't receive any payment or allowance, they can use the opportunity as a stepping stone to showcase their talent and performance to encourage other teams to select them," added Yafiz.
CCN limit their sponsoring to bicycles and full racing and training attire.
