New Delhi: India had a successful day in the Asian Track Cycling Championships that kicked off here at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, on Saturday, bagging one silver and six bronze medals on the opening day.
The opening day of the 41st Senior, 28th Junior Asian Track & 10th Para Track Cycling Championships witnessed 12 finals, including four for Para Championships.
The Indian team bagged one silver and six bronze medals in the 41st Senior & 28th Junior Asian Cycling Championships while claiming one gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in the 10th Para Track Cycling Championships.
On Saturday, Team India opened their medals tally with silver in Junior Women’s 4km team pursuit event. The Indian team comprising Pooja Dhanole, Himanshi Singh, Reet Kapoor and Jasmeek Kaur Sekhon clocked 4:54.034s against Korean riders Kim Chaeyeon, Cheon Yunyeong, Kim Eunsong, An Yeongseo who clocked 4:47.360s and bagged gold while Kazakhstan bagged bronze in the event with 4:48.872s.
In the qualifying round held in the morning session, the Indian Team clocked 4:54.884s and outclassed Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Riders and placed second in the heats to qualify for the final.
In the Senior Women’s 4km Team Pursuit event, the Indian riders consisting of Rejiye Kh Devi, Chayanika Gogoi, Meenakshi and Monika Jat outclassed Uzbekistan riders Evgeniya Golotina, Madina Kakhkhorova, Margarita Misyurina, Yania Kuskova to secure bronze medal by clocking 4:44.699s against 4:47.545s of Uzbekistan.
After a gap of 17 years, the Indian team could win any medal in the senior women category in any Asian Track Cycling Championships. Gold and silver in the event was won by Korea (Jumi Lee, Jieun Shin, Youri Kim, Ahreum Na) and Kazakhstan respectively, the Cycling Federation of India informed in a release on Saturday.
Meenakshi said after the event that it was a neck-to-neck fight “I was watching the Uzbek riders who were giving a good competition but we gave our best and the result was in our favour. I’m happy that I was part of the Indian team who won the first-ever medal of the Senior category in any Asian Track Cycling Championships”.
Another bronze came for Team India when the team of Niraj Kumar, Birjit Yumnam, Aashirwad Saxena, and Gurnoor Poonia clocked 4:22.737s against Uzbekistan (Abdulkhamid TUYCHIEV, Sanjarbek Ergashev, Diyor Takhirov, Vladislav Troman) 4:26.995 in Junior Men 4km Team Pursuit event. Kazakhstan won gold while Korea bagged silver in the event.
The Senior Men Team of 4km Team Pursuit Japan riders Shoi Matsuda, Kazushige Kuboki, Shunsuke Imamura, and Naoki Kojima won gold by overlapping the Korean riders in the event. The Indian team also added a bronze to the kitty when they outclassed Kazakhstan riders in the last lap to secure the medal. The Indian team was far behind till 3000m but in the last lap, Indian cyclists pedalled fast to clock 4:07.901s against 4:13.688s of Kazakhstan.
The team of Vishwajit Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Venkappa K and Anantha Narayan said, “We didn’t leave our rhythm and without considering the timing, we pedalled till the end of the race and snatched the medal from a tough opponent by breaking them in the power game.”
Chief Coach V.N Singh said, “India has progressed a lot in the endurance events, around eight years ago it was difficult to complete the race but now the scenario has changed and Indian riders are not only completing the races but also winning the medals.”
In the much Women’s Senior Team Sprint event, the South Korean team of Sunyoung CHO, Hae Ji Park and Hyeonseo Hwang won the gold medal with a timing of 49.685s. Japan’s riders Riyu Ohta, Yuka Kobayashi and Mina Sato had to be satisfied with silver with the timing of 49.973s. India’s Trishya Paul, Shushikala Agashe and Mayuri Lute won bronze with 50.438s. Malaysia gave them a good fight for bronze and timed 50.559s which was not enough for a medal.
After winning the medal, Mayuri said, “We clocked 51.012s just ahead of Malaysia’s time of 51.169s in heats and were nervous before the finals. We decided to produce better time in finals and worked out a strategy”.
“I was out of India for a month and practicing alone but team members were also in good form and we won a medal for India. I’m happy that I can win a medal here,” she said.
In Junior Women Team Sprint, Korean riders Yunseo Na, Doye Kim and Chaeyeon Kim created a New Asian Record with a timing of 51.607s and won the gold medal. They improved on the old record of 53.00s was in the name of Malaysia set in 2021 at Cairo. Malaysia won the silver while India claimed bronze in the event.
In the Junior Men’s Team Sprint event, Korea won gold with 45.265s followed by Kazakhstan with 47.288s and Malaysia with 47.162s. India came fourth in this event.
In the Para Women’s C1-C5 500m Time Trial event, India’s Jyoti Gaderaya clocked 58.283s and won gold ahead of teammate Geeta Rao.
–IANS