Cyclists from 27 countries, in both senior and junior men’s and women’s category, will fight it out for the honours at the Hero Asian Championships starting on Thursday at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Velodrome.
The 33rd senior and 20th junior Championships will be held in two venues till March 17. The track events will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium’s velodrome followed by the road races at the Buddh International Circuit, the Formula One venue. India’s senior men’s trio — Amarjit Singh, Amrit Singh and Bikram Singh (Team Sprint) and Chandrasekar Rajesh (Scratch Race), will lead the home challenge.
Indian officials have great faith over Mahita Mohan and tsunami-survivor girl from Andaman & Nicobar — Deborah in the women’s category. The top international contestants in the event include london Olympics multiple medal winner Guo Shuang of China and the just-concluded World Championships gold medallist Wai Sze lee.
Iran arrive
Giving the continental event the much-needed boost, the Iranian athletes have arrived here on Wednesday for the Championships.
Iran’s participation was under cloud due to visa problems and they have got their visas only on Tuesday. The Iranians boast of two-time Asian Tour leader Shorab Mehdi, along with UCI pro Amir Zargari. The second batch of Iranians is expected to arrive here on March 11.
However, cyclists from Pakistan and Afghanistan are yet to get the visa clearance in order to participate.