Indians draw blank for 2nd consecutive day in Asian Cycling

NEW DELHI: Indian cyclists failed to win any medal for the second consecutive day even as South Korea surged ahead to top the medal tally on the fourth and penultimate day of the 37th Asian Track Cycling Championships here on Thursday.

The best performance by an India was by Manorama Devi in women’s elite scratch 10km final as she finished fifth.

Manjeet Singh finished ninth in the men’s elite individual pursuit finals as did Dinesh Kumar in the junior category of the same event at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium velodrome.

Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong, a bronze winner at the 2012 London Olympics, won her second gold medal in the championship by clinching women’s elite sprint finals. on Wednesday, she grabbed a gold medal in women’s elite 500m time trial event.

Lee won her first two rounds in both the semi-finals and finals, eventually claiming Hong Kong’s third gold of championship.

Li Huang of China won gold in women’s elite scratch 10Km final in a race that saw many crashes and an extraordinary performance from Xiaojuan Diao of Hong Kong. Diao recovered from a lap down to win the bronze after she was injured in a crash with other riders.

Hyesu Kim of South Korea won junior women’s scratch 7.5km finals, while Sanghoon Park clinched men’s elite individual pursuit gold, giving South Korea a total of eight gold.

“I’m very happy that India is organising this championship for the third time and CFI has raised the standard of championship. CFI is doing a good job and UCI is ready to provide all help to CFI and its cyclists,” said International Cycling Union (UCI) President Brian Cookson.