New Delhi [India], Feb. 7 : India added one more medal into its kitty courtesy Aleena Reji, who won her second medal in a national record time to emerge as the star performer of the host country on the second day of the Asia Track Cycling Championships here on Tuesday.
Reji, top performer from India so far, added second bronze medal for herself as for as India in the 500m Time Trial Women Junior Category.
She clocked 37.439s to claim the third position and also created a new national record breaking her own previous record of 37.8s.
"I am still in shock", squealed an elated Reji, who won her first medal in the time trial event. The gold medal was awarded to Chao Yue Shen of China, who clocked 35.291s while Seolhwa Jeong of Korea claimed Silver medal with a timing of 36.35s.
However, the biggest heartbreak of the day came from India's number one cyclist Deborah Herold when she failed to convert her performance in a medal in 500m Time Trial in Women Elite category.
She clocked 35.367s and that was not enough for a medal, she had to satisfy with fourth place but she gave her personal best to create a new national record.
The gold medal was claimed by 2012 Olympic Medalist Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong with a timing of 34.204s while silver was awarded to Sunyong Cho of Korea (35.224s).
"There is no excuse for a medal loss, we performed well and Deborah who just upgraded from Junior to Elite category gave her best, we are hoping some medals in a coming days." said RK Sharma, coach Indian Team.
Deborah will perform in Individual Sprint category tomorrow. The other shock of the day came from Mohd. Azizulhasni Awang, London 2016 bronze medalist in the keirin event. Not only did Awang lose out on the medals, but he finished a very low 9th in the race. The same fate was not met by the other Olympic medalist, Lee Wai Sze - London 2012 bronze medalist, who won gold in the Women Elite 500m time trial event today.
As for her performance, she remarked, "There's always room for improvement and as is clear, this wasn't my best performance till date.
I am happy that I won the gold, but medals don't matter as much as my own performance does." Kasra Bagherpour secured the very first gold medal for Iran on the second day of the 37th Asian Track Cycling Championship, here at the IGI Stadium.
Bagherpour won the men elite scratch finals by finishing a lap ahead of his closest competitor, Leong Chi Son of Macau, China.
Chun Wing Leung of Hong Kong secured the second gold of the day, with an incredibly fast run; finishing almost two laps ahead of the rest of the field.
The day, however, did not start off on a good note for the Indian team. Sachin Desai finished 6th in the Men Juniors - scratch race 10Km final and Satbir finished 9th in the Men Elite - scratch race 15Km final.
"The boys did not medal, but they certainly performed above everyone's expectations", contradicts Amar Singh, mentor of the endurance riders.
Singh is a revered personality in the Delhi cycling fraternity and an Arjuna Award recipient. After Day Two of the competitions, China remain on top of medal tally with five gold, one silver and one bronze, followed by Japan (four gold, two silver, six bronze), Kazakhstan (3, 0, 6), South Korea (2, 8, 3) and Hong Kong (2, 2, 1).
Source: ANI
