living up to her expectations, Indian cycling sensation Deborah on Saturday cycled her way to another historic moment, after her bronze feat two days back, when she reached the final of the women’s junior sprint event in the Hero Asian Cycling Championship at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Velodrome, thereby, ensuring the country of atleast silver.
She defeated Malaysia’s Fariah Sha Mohammed Adnan by just 0.05 seconds and now will take on South Korea’s Yeonhee Jang for the gold on Monday.
After an easy qualifying round, the 19-year old from Andaman and Nicobar was slightly behind the Malaysian in first half in the semi-final, but, in the last few laps inched ahead. Two medals mean India’s best performance in the history of Asian Championship. “I was not thinking about the opposition today and my planning will not change on Monday although our coaches are saying that I have defeated the Malaysian by just five mili-seconds and my competitor for the gold-medal match is quite a strong opponent. But, I am fearless and I would like to rest well today and think about the match on Monday. My focus is on getting gold now,” the 2004 tsunami-survivor told reporters.
Deborah has a chance to earn a third medal as her team is still in contention in the junior 4-km team pursuit event. Deborah forms a strong quartet with Jashanjeet Kaur, N Geeturaj and Bidhyalaxmi Devi and they will be in action on also Monday.
On seeing her pictures in newspapers and news channels, Deborah said that she is inspired to do better. “I am quite happy to see my pictures in various newspapers. It inspires me to do even better and motivates me to work harder,” she added.
In other notable performance, Mahitha Mohan finished a creditable sixth in the women’s elite’s 10-km scratch race.
Pakistan team arrives
An eight-member Pakistani cycling team, which was granted visa after much delay, arrived on Saturday evening for the ongoing Championship here. The team, comprising of six riders, will compete in the road races, commencing at the Buddh International Circuit (BIS) from March 13.