The Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) will confer the 2024 ACC Merit Award to PhilCycling president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino during the continental body’s Congress next month in Kazakhstan.
ACC secretary-general Onkar Singh informed Tolentino of the award in a correspondence dated May 16. “The Executive Committee of the Asian Cycling Confederation has decided to confer the 2024 ACC Merit Award for your exemplary service towards the development of the sport of cycling in your region,” Singh wrote.
“I feel honored,” said Tolentino, who has been president of the Philippine Olympic Committee and was first elected president of PhilCycling in 2008.
The ACC Congress is scheduled for June 6 at the Hotel Kazakhstan in Almaty.
Under Tolentino’s leadership at PhilCycling, Daniel Caluag competed in men’s BMX racing at the London 2012 Olympics and won the country’s only gold medal at the Incheon 2014 Asian Games. Tolentino also established the country’s only International Cycling Union (UCI)-standard BMX racing track in Tagaytay City, which hosted the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and the 2023 ACC Asian Championships.
Four Philippine-registered UCI Continental Teams have emerged under Tolentino’s tenure: 7-Eleven-Cliqq by Road Bike Philippines, Go-For-Gold Cycling Team, Victoria Sports Pro Cycling Team, and Standard Insurance by Standardized Cycling Team.
During the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Tolentino extended his efforts beyond competitive cycling by donating dozens of bicycles to various communities, recognizing the bike as an essential mode of transportation during the lockdown.
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