Indians shine at Asia Cup cycling

India claimed nine medals, including five gold on the opening day of the Track Asia Cup at the IG Stadium Complex Velodrome here on Tuesday.

Ashwin Patil opened India's campaign by winning gold in the 15km Point Race event in the Junior Men category with 29 points.

Ashwin secured five points each in the first four sprints and had an easy win while teammate Naman Kapil took silver with 29 points followed by Hassan of Saudi Arabia who secured bronze with 21 points.

The combination of Sushikala Agashe and Mayuri added another gold to India's tally in the Team Sprint event in the Junior Women category with a time of 37 seconds ahead of compatriots Joyshree and Vaishnavi who clocked 39.544 seconds to secure the silver medal.

The bronze went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Agashe again showed her supremacy in the 500m Time Trial event and won another gold by clocking a time of 37.702 seconds followed by Evanglina Liontin of Indonesia who clocked 41.545 seconds.

UAE took bronze in this event. Sushikala's average speed was 47.743km/hr.

A national record was set in the Elite Men category by the team of Sahil Kumar, Ranjit Singh and Apollonius when they clocked 47.399 seconds on the way to winning gold in the Team Sprint event.

Their performance was better than the Asian Games gold medal time.

Saudi Arabia was far behind at second place with a time of 49.248 seconds.

India's Men Junior Team of J.K. Ashwin, Mayur Pawar and Abhishek Kashid also won gold with 47.397 seconds in the Team Sprint event followed by Saudi Arabia who secured silver with 51.522 followed by the UAE.

--IANS

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