Indian cyclists steal limelight on day-2 of Asian Track Cycling Champ

NEW DELHI: The day-2 of the Asia Track Cycling Championship came to an end, with 12 final rounds including four finals for Para-Cycling events. India added one Gold, three Silver and four more Bronze medals into the kitty and got 18 medals till now in the 41st Senior, 28th Junior Asian Track and 10th Para Track Cycling Championships. One Gold, One Silver and one Bronze came into Para-Cycling for India while two Silver and three Bronze medals were added by Senior and Junior athletes. In the Women Junior category, Pooja Danole opened the Indian tally on the second day by adding a bronze medal in the Individual Pursuit Women Junior Category.

She clocked 2:31.277s to claim the third position and also created a New National Record-breaking her own previous record of 2:37.410s. "I have been practicing for the last 7 years for this medal and this medal means a lot to me. I'm thankful to my coach VN Singh who gave us the courage to win the medals at the international arena" , squealed an elated Pooja.

India's Vishwajit Singh won bronze in the Senior Men Individual Pursuit category and clocked 9 minutes to complete the 4km race. He defeated Kiat Chun Lim of Malaysia who clocked 10 minutes. In the qualifying round, Vishwajit's timing 4:31.380s was behind his opponent from Malaysia 4:31.130s but Vishwajit gave his best in the finals and won a medal for India. In the Men Junior category, Niraj Kumar lost Gold medal to Kazakhstan rider Maxim Traskin who showed his supremacy in the event and overlapped Niraj after 2000m in the race. Niraj got Silver while Bronze was won by Seungmin Hong of Korea who defeated Uzbekistan rider Diyor Takhirov. Mayuri Dhanraj Lute hogged the limelight of the day after winning the Bronze medal in the 500m Time Trial event. She won 2 bronze medals in 2 days of championships, this was her first-ever individual medal in the Senior category. She clocked 36.481s in a time trial with a speed of 49.340 km/h to earn the honours. Gold was won by Nurul Izzah Mohd Asri of Malaysia who pedalled the cycle with a speed of 50.705 km/h and clocked 35.499s while Silver was claimed by Bomi Kim of Korea who finished in 36.374s.

"It's a big day in my career, I was waiting for this moment for a long time, without going by the colour of the medal, it is still memorable for me, I want to thank all the people who believed in me," said Mayuri.

Leila Heydariveirani of Iran secured the very first medal for Iran on the second day of the Asian Track Cycling Championship. She bagged the bronze medal in Junior Women Category with a timing of 38.033s. Sadnya Kotake added Silver medal for India with 37.823s while Chaeyeon KIM of Korea won Gold with 35.740s. As for her (Meenakshi) performance, Meenakshi remarked, "There's always room for improvement and as is clear, this wasn't my best performance till date." Warishdeep Singh and Luv Kumar Yadav finished 9th and 10th place in the Men Juniors - Keirin event final and David Beckham finished 8th in the Men Elite - Keirin event. India's Jyoti Gaderaya won Gold while teammate Geeta Rao got a Silver medal in the Para Women Individual Pursuit event. They clocked 5:24.990s & 6:12.939s respectively to complete the race. India added one more bronze medal in the Para Men 4km Individual Pursuit event when Arshad Sheik of India clocked 5:43.604s to finish in third place. Iran's Mahdi Mohammadi (5:24.218s) & Behrooz Farzad (5:34.339s) clinched Gold & Silver respectively.