Afghanistan to launch 23-km cycling race

Kabul, April 10, 2007 (Xinhua): Over 1,000 Afghan cyclists have registered to race 23 km distance in the capital city Kabul on April 20, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

The race will be flagged off from Darulmanan Palace and will be ended at Paghman, Daily Outlook writes.

Afghan leading wireless company the AWCC and a non-governmental organization the Bayat Foundation would sponsor the competition, the newspaper added.

It would be the third time for the past three years that the two entities organized such race.

The theme for this year's race is to encourage Afghans to stop poppy production in the country.

Afghanistan, with an output of 6,100 tones of opium in 2006, became the single largest supplier of the raw material used in manufacturing heroin.

To encourage the cause, the organizers of the game would give 50,000 Afghanis (1,000 U.S. dollars) for those who secure the first, second and third positions in the 23km-cycling race respectively.