New Delhi: “I always race to win and am fearless. I love the fighting abilities of MS Dhoni, who is also from a small town like me,’’ says India’s ‘Wonderkid’ of cycling Deborah. On the third day of the Hero Asian Cycling Championship, the gritty teenager from Andaman took a leaf out of the Indian cricket captain’s book to bring out the fighter in her and assure India a historic second medal in the prestigious continental championships today.
Deborah staved off a stiff semifinal challenge from Malaysia’s Farihah Sha (women junior – Sprint) to set up a mouthwatering final against Korea's Yeonhee Jang, who beat compatriot Sarang Im in the other semi-final clash at the IG Velodrome here today. Indian fans will be waiting anxiously to watch Deborah in action when she competes for a medal in Sprint and Team Pursuit categories on Monday.
‘’I had put the past behind me to begin afresh today. My start was good and keeping a close watch on my rival I completed the lap comfortably. But my team manager said I beat the Malaysian only by 0.05 seconds to qualify for the final,” said the talented teenager.
“My Korean opponent in Monday’s final is strong, but I will enter the arena with an open mind and aim for the gold,” she added.
What Deborah promised on Friday she delivered it on Saturday. After putting India in medal reckoning of the Team Pursuit (3km) event, she was not content and determined to help India win at least one medal in her Sprint Women event.
The 17-year-old fulfilled her commitment in the Hero Asian Cycling Championships on Saturday as she ensured herself and the country with only a second individual medal and with a better colour of the metal for India’s best ever showing in the prestigious Asian meet.
Fortunately, Deborah had no other event on the day and has time to mentally prepare herself for the gold medal event on Monday. “Deborah will rest her limbs today so that she is ready for the race. Who knows, she can even fetch us the first gold,” said an optimistic team manager S. Radhakrishnan.
“Deborah has the potential to achieve more in cycling than what Saina Nehwal has done for badminton,’’ says an elated Cycling Federation of India Secretary General Onkar Singh. Although she has miles to travel, the optimism and faith is not entirely misplaced considering what the Andaman girl has done no Indian has ever done before for the sport.
Continuing from where the left off yesterday, Korea added all the 4 gold medals on offer today to lead the medal tally with 9 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze. They were followed by Hong Kong (4-2-1) and Malaysia (2-2-2) in that order. India, with their lone bronze are placed ninth on the medal table.
Korea's Team Pursuit team (women elite) created a new championship record with a timing of 4:41.576 beating the timing of 4:46.619. Their men counterpart too joined in the party, shattering another championship record in in the 4km Team Pursuit event with a timing of 4:10.689. The previous best was 4:14.615.
Pakistan team arrives
Meanwhile, an eight-member Pakistani team arrived today. The team, comprising six riders, who will compete in the road races beginning at the Buddha International Circuit (BIS) from March 13. “We are happy to be in India and we hope our riders will give a good account of themselves,” said a Pakistani team official.
The 34-member Iraq team will also be reaching India tomorrow morning. Secretary General Onkar Singh breathed a sigh of relief at the latest development. “We are very happy that Pakistan and Iraq team has been cleared for participation. Now we have been able to get almost all Asian teams, including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to attend the event.”
March 9 Results
Team pursuit 4 km (WE)
Korea (Minhye, Hee Jung, Hee Eun, Youri Kim) - 4:41.576, Japan (Kanako, Minami, Sakura, Yoko) - 4:42.433,
China (Li Zhang, Hui Sha, Jiujin, Xingyu) - 4:44.824
Team pursuit 4 km (ME)
Korea (Sunjae, Seonho, Sungbaek, Keonwoo) - 4:10.689, Japan (Eiya, Kazushige, Shogo, Kazuki) - 4:11.103,
Hongkong (King Wai, Ho Ting, Chun Wing, Ki Ho) - 4:11.323
Scratch 10 km (WE)
Korea - Eun Hee Kim, Taipei - Hsiao Chia Tseng, China - Xingyu Gong
Scratch 15 km (ME)
Korea - Hosung Cho, Iran - Hossein Neteghi, Taipei - Feng Chin Liu
