New Delhi, June 23 (FN Agency) Ronaldo Singh clinched a historic silver medal in the men’s sprint and Chayanika Gogoi won a bronze in the 10km women’s scratch race here at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on the final day of Asian Track Cycling Championships as India finished its campaign with nine medals (one silver and eight bronze) in the senior category. The Asian Junior and Para championships were also being held concurrently at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium velodrome.
The junior and para-athletes won 14 medals (two gold, five silver, and seven bronze). The Indian cycling team finished its campaign in the fifth position with overall 23 medals, including two gold, six silver, and 15 bronze, which is the best-ever performance by India at the championships. Birthday boy Ronaldo, who turned 20 on Wednesday, defeated Kazakhstan’s Andrey Chugay, who won the bronze medal, in the semi-finals. Ronaldo lost the first race but bounced back to win the next two races to sail into the final. The junior world no. 1 Indian, however, lost the gold medal match against Japanese veteran Kento Yamasaki, who won the first two races to bag the gold.
“Gold was in my mind but I’m also happy with the first-ever silver. This is the best-ever performance of my career and in every tournament, I improved my technique, this is most important,” Ronaldo said. It was India’s first-ever individual silver medal and Ronaldo’s third medal at the Asian meet. Earlier, he won bronze medals in the 1km time trial and team sprint events. On the other hand, the 19-year-old Gogoi finished ahead of Kazakhstan’s Rinata Sultanova in the 10km women’s scratch race finals to settle for a bronze. Korea’s Youri Kim won the gold while Kie Furuyama of Japan clinched silver.