The Indian sprint
cycling team of Esow
Alben, Ronaldo Singh,
Rojit Singh, and Jemsh
Singh made history when they won a
gold medal at the recent UCI Junior Track Cycling
World Championships in Frankfurt, Germany. India
had never won a gold medal before at a world cycling
event, senior or junior.
Esow from Nicobar and his teammates from
Manipur defeated Australia in the final, a three-lap
race on a 250-meter steeply banked wooden track.
Australia led after two laps, but the Indian boys finished
strong with the fastest lap in the tournament
(12.915 seconds) to win gold with a total time of 44.625.
Esow, 18, has made history before: he became the
first Indian to win a medal at the Junior Track Cycling
World Championship when he won silver last year.
“Hope I and other cyclists will continue to achieve
new heights and make cycling a popular sport in
India,” he told Times of India.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]