India registered their best performance in the junior women’s time trial of the Asian Cycling Championships with G Manisha capturing the sixth position at the Buddh International Circuit here on Friday.
Manisha finished the 71-km race in 1:49:58 to clock the best ever time by an Indian in the event. The girl from Tamil Nadu who turned 18 on Friday, thus celebrated her birthday in grand style. “I was behind the second lead group, but with two rounds to go, I took my chances and was aiming for a top five finish,” Manisha, who made her debut for the Indian team at this event, told reporters after the race. “With a little more effort I could have won a medal.”
“I want to improve my timings and win a medal at the Olympics,” she added.
Among the four Indian riders, N. Geeturaj was the only other rider to have finished the race. She completed the race in a time of 1:54.42 to be at the 14th position in a field of 23 cyclists who finished the race. The two other Indians, T. Bidfhyalaxmi Devi and Chaitrali Pavsanker, were among the 10 riders who did not finish the race.
Yao Pang of Hong Kong claimed gold with 1:48:12 and Kiyoka Sakaguchi of Japan got silver at 1:49:51, fractions of a second ahead of bronze-medal winner Razam Soboh of Jordan who also finished at 1:49.51. It was Pang’s fifth medal in this event. She had won three gold medals in the track races at the Indhira Gandhi Velodrome.
In the junior men’s section, Dilawar Singh of India gave a tough fight to the top riders and was headed for a top five finish before a collision with another rider at a sharp bend forced him to drop out of the race.
“I was going at a good speed and was thinking of going for the lead but a slight touch with the cycle in front at a sharp bend finished my chances,” Dilawar told The Pioneer.
“This team started practicing around a year ago. We have improved a lot in this time. But we need to improve further in order to catch up with the top Asian nations,” Indian coach Bhim Singh Dahiya said.
Yerlan Pernebekebov of Kazakhstan emerged as the champion among junior men with a time of 2:18:12 fractions ahead of compatriot Dmitriy Rive (2:18:12) and Saya Kuroeda of Japan (2:19:30).