Big tournaments always throw up exciting new talent and expose them to the limelight. And the ongoing Asian Cycling Championship is no different.
If it was 19-year-old tribal girl from Andaman and Nicobar Islands — Deborah — stealing the show on the opening day by clinching bronze medal in the Junior Women’s 500m time trial competition, the second day saw 16-year-old Punjab girl Jashanjit Kaur taking the centre stage with a scintillating performance for the hosts, although without a medal.
The class 12 girl of Yadvindra Public School, Patiala, finished fourth losing out narrowly to Kazakhstan’s Yekaterina Yuraitis in the women’s junior 2 km individual pursuit event held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Velodrome here on Friday.
Jashanjit was in the lead for the first five laps of the eight-lap competition. But, in the sixth, Yekaterina picked her speed to finish ahead of Jashanjit.
Jashanjit, who was cheered throughout the race by her coaches and her doctor father, clocked 2.41.024 seconds while the Kazakh girl finished the race with a timing of 2.40.395.
“I am obviously sad that I missed out on the bronze. But, I am happy with my performance as this is the best timing that I have recorded. This is the first international tournament for me. I have learned many things, although, without a medal. She crossed me in the middle of the sixth lap. She was better,” said Jashanjit.
It was certainly a big achievement for someone who started cycling around two years back. “I was training for athletics competitions at National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala. In November 2010, cycling coach asked me if I wanted to try this sport. I agreed and won district level and state level events before coming here. It is great to be a part of Asian Cycling Championship,” Jashanjit said.
Indian coach Rumi Chatterjee was excited about the performances of her wards. “With the good showing of girls like Jashanjit and Deborah, you can see India’s future is strong and the time ahead will see more medals in India’s pocket,” Chatterjee said.
In the team event, Deborah teamed up with Bidhyalaxmi Devi, Jashanjit and N Geeturaj to put India’s hopes alive in the women’s junior 4km team pursuit competition. The final will be held on Monday.
“This competition was originally for 3km but Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) changed it to four last month and it is great to see the timing of our cyclists and going by that I am optimistic of another medal. Everyone played their part to perfection. They have expanded our hopes of adding another medal,” Rumi added.
In the men’s event, Amarjeet Singh and Alan Baby have qualified for the 200m time trial event in the Elite and Junior category respectively.