Asian Track Cycling: Ronaldo Singh shines as India bag two more bronze medals

New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) World Junior Champion Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam claimed the country's first-ever international medal in the 1km Time Trial event as India had another successful day at the Asian Track Cycling Championship, bagging two bronze medals on Day 3.

Birjit Yumnam won the second bronze medal for the hosts as they took their overall tally to 20 medals here at the IGI Stadium.

The day, which had five finals scheduled, also witnessed a major crash that left the Indian rider involved with a minor injury.

The riders were gearing up for the Men's Elite 10km Tempo Race -- the second event of the Omnium event when Malaysia's Zulhelmi Zainal and India's Viswajit Singh collided with each other. Due to an injury, Viswajit left the event while Zulhelmi Zainal got up and finished the race. Zulhelmi completed all four events of Omnium and was placed 8th in the final standings.

Asian Record holder Ronaldo Singh pedalled his cycle with a speed of 58.254 km/h and clocked 1:01.798s to win a bronze medal in the 1km Time Trial event of the Men's Senior category. This was his and India's first-ever medal in this event. Yuta Obara of Japan won gold in 1:01.118s (speed 59.902 km/h) while Malaysia's Mohammad Fadhil clocked 1:01.639s to claim silver.

"I came here for the gold but had to be satisfied with bronze, I just repeated my last year's performance which was not enough for gold. To change the colour of the medal, I have to focus more on my technique," said Ronaldo.

About his plans for the Olympic Games, Ronaldo said, "I would like to build a team for the Team Sprint event where we have already won a World Junior medal. It would give more exposure to the Indian cycling team, paving the way for versatility in our performance as a nation."

In the 10km Scratch race in Men's Junior category, Birjit Yumnam bagged the second bronze for India.

Yumnam pulled away from Ilya Karabutov of Kazakhstan and Amir Ali of Iran after 35 laps to claim the third position in the 40 laps race of 10km Scratch race in the Men's Junior category. Hwarang KIM of Korea secured the gold while Zulfahmi Aiman of Malaysia finished second.

Shunsuke Imamura of Japan secured the Omnium gold in the Men's Elite category, in the Asian Track Cycling Championship 2022. Imamura gave a splendid performance, finishing at the top in all the four races (scratch race 10Km, tempo race 10 Km, elimination, points race 25 km).

Indian riders Mayuri Lute and Sadnya Kotake lost their quarterfinal event in Women's Senior and Junior Sprints respectively. Mayuri lost to Yuka Kobayashi of Japan while Sadnya lost to Azwa Nabila of Malaysia.

"Kobayashi was a tough opponent with good technique, I have to work hard on my technique and power for the upcoming Commonwealth Games," said Mayuri after losing the event.

Sampath Pasamel of India finished sixth in Junior Men's 1km Time Trial event, he pedalled the cycle with a speed of 52.324 km/h and clocked 1:08.801s. Kazakhstan's Kirill Kurdidi clocked 1:02.840 to claim gold while Guenwoo KIM of Korea and Minato Nakaishi of Japan clinched silver and bronze medals.

In the Para Men's B Sprint event, Kazuhei Kimura of Japan won gold while Jakkit Punthong of Thailand claimed silver.

In the Women B Para Sprint event, Rungarun Ratsamee of Thailand finished the race in 13.398s and claimed gold.