Indian cyclists put up a commendable show on the opening day of the Track Asia Cup 2016, bagging 6 medals, including three gold and two silver and one bronze, here today.
Deborah Herold did not disappoint her team and took home two gold medals on day one at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex Velodrome.
In the women elite, 500m Deborah won the gold, clocking 35.964s. Mohd. Adnan Farina Shawati of Malaysia and Yin Yin from Hong Kong bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively.
In the team sprint women elite event, the Indian team comprising Deborah Herold and Kezia Vargheese beat the team from Kazakhstan to bag the gold medal with a timing of 35.962s.
A bronze medal was awarded to Rajkumari Devi, due to walkover at the women elite pursuit 3kms event.
Talking about her achievement Deborah Herold said, “I was suffering from back pain for the last 10 days but this has been an excellent start for me. I am hoping on to keep the medal tally rising. My personal aim at the moment would be to improve my timing with every event.”
In the men elite team sprint event, the team from Iran bagged the gold medal with a time of 46.330s while Malaysia and Kazakhstan bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively with timing of 47.999s and 47.641s.
India’s junior team lived up to the expectation of their coach R K Sharma, who had claimed a day before the event that the colts are expected to add on medals to the Indian tally.
Indian colt bagged a silver medal sin the team sprint event beating Kazakhstan with a timing of 49.299s.
The junior women team also bagged a gold in the team sprint event.
Another star for India was Alena Reji, who was taking part in her first international event as she won a silver beating Jantuganova Olga from Uzbekistan.
Anis Amira from Malaysia won the gold medal in this event with a timing of 38.443s.
At the end of the first day of the championship, India and Malaysia share the top spot with three gold, two silver, one bronze medals each.
Hong Kong, with three gold and two bronze, stand second in the tally followed by Iran with one gold.