India ended their campaign in the Track Asia Cup at second position by bagging eight medals, including two gold, on the final day of the competition at the Cycling Velodrome in IG Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.
India finished second with a total 16 medals -- five gold, four silver and seven bronze -- behind Hong Kong with 18 medals including 11 Gold, four Silver and three bronze.
"I am satisfied with the performance of our cyclists in the Track Asia Cup, especially junior cyclists have shown good performance in this prestigious event and lived up to the expectations," India's coach RK Sharma said after India bagged two silver and four bronze, besides two gold medals, on the final day of the competition.
"I am sure this event has been a great learning experience for all the cyclists looking ahead to Asian Track Cycling Championship in 2017. We have ample time before our next event and our cyclists will surely improve their performance by then," he added.
Deborah Herold, in her Final Sprint event, clinched the top position with a time of 12.576 and 12.493 in the first and second rounds, respectively. She beat Zhaojuan of Hong Kong, who clocked 12.820 and 12.734 in both the rounds to settle for a silver.
The third position was taken by Farina Shawati of Malaysia with a time of 12.552 and 12.342.
Another Indian -- Kezia Vargheese -- missed the bronze medal by a whisker, finishing fourth in this event.
Deborah, however, lost the gold medal in her favourite event -- Keirin -- and managed to win a silver ahead of her teammate Kezia Varghesse, who bagged the bronze.
The 21-year-old Deborah turned out to be the star performer for the country, having clinched three gold and one silver.
On winning the silver in her favourite event, Keirin,
Deborah said, "I am unlucky that I lost the easy gold, I lost my focus due to the collision of other riders (Hong Kong and Malaysia riders collapsed and fell down after which they were unable to complete the race). This happened to me last year also because of which I failed to win any medal in this event.
"I am determined to do better in the Asian Track Cycling Championship, to be held in India in February 2017, where riders from nearly 31 countries will take part."
In the Men's Elite Keirin event, Indian cyclist Amarjeet Singh finished 8th, but in the Junior Keirin competition, Emerson won the bronze medal for India.
In the Men Junior Sprint final, the bronze medal went to India's Sanuraj P, who clocked 12.203 and 12.322 in the first and second rounds, respectively.
The Women Junior Sprint final saw India bagging the first two spots and adding another gold and silver to the medals tally.
Nayana Rajesh got the gold after clocking 12.658 and 12.865 in the two rounds, while Anu Chutia grabbed the silver with a timing of 12.764 and 13.178. Hoi Wah of Hong Kong was third position a time of 13.644 and 13.300.
However, in the Men Elite Sprint Final, India could not manage to finish on the podium.
In the team Elite Women's team pursuit, Indian team comprising Raj Kumari Devi, Bidya Luxmi Tourangbam, Ratuja Satputhe and G Amritha Regunath earned the bronze medal.
The main attraction of today was the point race of 30km, where 14 riders took part and had to complete 120 rounds of the track.
India couldn't win a medal in this race as Krishna Nayakodi and Ramesh Nagarajan secured eighth place and 10th place, respectively.
Image: Deborah Herold
Photograph: Twitter
