Joining the tour for the first time, TSG beats ProTeam and other continentals to finish the 458.6 kilometers tour in 43 hours 10 minutes 20 seconds
The TSG team brought Malaysia’s name to an international level once again by winning the Best Overall Team award at the recently organised Tour of Antalya in Turkey. The tour is in its 4th consecutive year and has become a well-known race in the cycling sports community worldwide.
The Tour of Antalya is a multi-day road cycling race held annually in Turkey and was sponsored by Go Türkiye.
“We are proud of the team as they were the lead among 23 other teams and 3 of our participants finished as 9th, 10th & 11th in the Final General Classifications among 160 other participants. This was a nice win especially since we have not participated in many international tours due to the pandemic The last-minute invitation did not deter our cyclists from further investing their hard work and effort to endure their best steps was put forth to bring Malaysia’s name to a higher stage. We are glad there are such races still ongoing that allow us to compete and lift their professional level,” said Mohd Saiful Anuar Aziz, Sports Director & Head Coach of Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team.
Turkey is one of the biggest sports tourism destinations internationally with locations such as Antalya, Erzurum, Trabzon, İstanbul, Bolu, Burdur, Isparta, and Kocaeli attracting sports-oriented tourism. The temperate climate in Turkey allows visitors to plan their training sessions according to their sport of choice from football, basketball, tennis, swimming and winter sports.
“Antalya is Turkey’s door to the world, and we host millions of tourists which puts us as the most important tourism destination in the world. Antalya draws attention for its history, natural beauties and hospitality continues to attract people not only with its tourism but also its agriculture, trade, technology and sports infrastructure and has become a city that carries out activities such as sports, culture, meetings successfully that leads it to organise new events every year,” said a representative from Turkish Tourism’s office.
The representative added, “It has been challenging to continuously organise sports events being in a pandemic and yet Turkey organised multiple sports events to attract visitors to the country by following stringent health and safety guidelines by taking all steps necessary to ensure that the country continues to be safe. Tour of Antalya is a pride of the country and shouldn’t be considered only as a sports organisation. Tour of Antalya has undertaken an important mission to promote our city and as a bicycle-friendly city. We attach great importance in bringing our city into prominence with bicycles.
Sports tourism in Turkey is soaring high in the international field. İstanbul hosted the UEFA Super Cup in 2019 and has very high operational capabilities for match organisations and football training camps. Turkey also offers golf resorts designed by world-renowned designers and basketball schools and facilities in Turkey continue to surprise and attract the attention of basketball fans in terms of quality and knowledge while Olympic water sports facilities provide the best conditions for aspiring swimmers. Turkey is also fast becoming an exciting choice for winter tourism, competing against the more popular ski destinations in Europe.
For more information on sports tourism and facilities in Turkey, visitors may visit https://www.goturkiye.com/
