In a country where people are so obsessed with cricket, they don’t even bat an eye to watch athletes representing the nation playing a different sport. All Indian sports deserve equal respect. But the media promotes cricket-related stuff more than anything else.
It was indeed a day to remember for Indian cyclists’ men’s team consisting of Esow Alben, Ronaldo Singh, James Singh and Rojit Singh, as they won a historic Team Sprint gold medal at the World Junior Track Cycling Championships in Germany.
The Indian team comprehensively got the better of Australia in the final, clocking 44.681 seconds to bag the top honours.
India didn’t have the best of a start as they were trailing after the opening lap by .244 second. Making a classic rebound, the Indian cyclists cut down the gap to 0.030 seconds in Round 2 and then produced a stellar effort in the 3rd round to write a success story of their own in the history books.
India won 13 gold medals in cycling, but nobody praised it:
Indian cyclists came through with flying colours with six golds, five silver and two bronze medals at the Track Asia Cup last year.
As far as the men’s junior 200m sprint is concerned, India’s Esow Alben clinched gold medal surpassing Kazakhstan’s Dimitry Rezanov. India’s Jemsh Singh won bronze medal. Esow Alben shared his tough experience with Kazakhstan’s rider and he managed to seal the gold medal.
“It was a tough fight with Kazakhstan’s rider but I was confident that I can win the gold medal,” an elated Esow said after the race. The second gold for the hosts India came in the women’s junior 200m sprint where Mayuri Lute hailing from Maharashtra clocked 12.263s to secure the good position.
As far as the women’s ‘Elite Keirin’ final is concerned, India’s Sonali Chanu missed the bronze medal by a whisker. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Indian athletes gave absolutely everything in the event.
Let’s appreciate them for the efforts that they put in during the matches. The Youth wishes the Indian athletes for their future endeavours.