ATTEMPTS are underway for Newport to host the Ukrainian Cycling National Championships 2022.

Due to the war in Ukraine, many Ukrainian professional athletes have been left unable to compete in their own country.

However, attempts have been made around the world to accomodate these athletes and host Ukrainian national sporting events in other countries.

As Newport is home to one of the best velodromes in the world, the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales, it makes sense to host a big cycling competition in the city.

Mauro Pizzol, a cycling specialist and a director at Excel Sports Management, is one of the men organising this event.

Mr Pizzol said: "During a conversation with with a friend who was also a team manager in one of my teams, Joseph Alberti, we came across this idea: 'what can we do to help Ukrainian riders at the moment?'

"So we thought we thought 'let's see if we can help them with the National Championships'."

Mr Pizzol got in touch with Andriy Hrivko, a former professional cyclist and current president of the Ukrainian Cycling Federation, to see how he could help.

Mr Hrivko explained that he only needed to organise the track cycling competition but he was not prepared to host it in Ukraine for safety reasons.

He went on to say that if anything could be organised in the UK, then the Ukrainian Cycling Federation would be happy to travel over for the event.

The hunt began for a suitable venue that could be used for free.

Mr Alberti suggested Newport as he knows people at the velodrome and noted how helpful and generous they are.

The velodrome was offered up to use free of charge, but Mr Pizzol and Mr Alberti still needed to raise between £15,000 and £20,000 for the event to take place for travel expenses and other logistical neccessities.

Luckily, one anonymous donor of Ukrainian origin donated around 80 per cent of what was needed.

However, some money still needs to be raised and Mr Pizzol has set up a GoFundMe page to attain what is needed.

Individual donations of £100 or more will receive two tickets to the event and donations of £1,000 or more will receive four VIP tickets and the opportunity to meet the cyclists and the officials of the Ukrainian Cycling Federation.

If all goes to plan, the competition will take place from Friday, November 25 through to Sunday, November 27.

Mr Pizzol said: "When the war started a few months ago, everyone was trying to help in different ways, such as hosting Ukrainian families here in the UK.

"We have background in the cycling world and we thought we can help by doing what we know how to do, which in this case was organising cycling event.

"It shows that around the world, every nation, everyone in the world cares about what's happening. And we are trying to help."