Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
There was no stopping Ronaldo Laitonjam. He created an Asian record for men’s junior 200m time trial event and later won the junior men’s Sprint event as India collected ten more medals ,including four gold in Track Asia Cup here on Tuesday.
Ronaldo clocked 10.065 seconds in the qualifying round to break the previous record held by China’s Liu Qi who had completed the race in 10.149 seconds in 2018.
“Qualifying for the finals was in my mind but when I saw the score, I was surprised and happy,” Ronaldo said after breaking the record.
“Juniors are doing well and many more records will break in the coming years. Our team is preparing hard and the results are coming forward,” Coach RK Sharma said.
The medal rush continued for India as they captured 10 more medals including 4 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze after 12 on day one at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in New Delhi.
The 17-year-old Ronaldo dominated the final and led the race to finish at the top of the podium. Rojit Singh won the silver for India to add another medal. Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Safarov claimed the bronze medal.
Ronaldo was not the only star of day two. Two-time Junior World Championships medallist Esow Alben won a gold medal in the elite men’s Sprint event with a dominant performance. He had finished behind Tsz Chun Law of Hong Kong in the qualifying round but avenged that the final. Amarjeet Singh Nagi finished third.
If the start to the second day was record breaking, Venkappa Shiv Kengalgutti made it even more memorable as he won the gold medal in the junior men’s 3 km individual pursuit clocking 3.30: 106 minutes. It was a 1-2 finish for India in the event as Mula Ram, representing India’s second team SAINCA, won the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Iran’s Labib Ali.
Triyasha Paul and Nikita Nisha gave India a 1-2 finish in the junior women’s sprint event and added two more medals to India’s tally. Paul and Nisha had won medals on day one was well.
In the elite men’s 4 KM individual pursuit event, Punam Chand captured the silver medal falling just short against Malaysia’s Emam Firdaus Mohammad Zamri who won the gold medal. Dimitry Potapenko of Kazakhstan settled for the bronze medal.
But it was a double delight for India elite women’s 3 KM individual pursuit race. Elangbam Devi and Irungbam Devi gave India a silver-bronze finish in the event. In the gold medal race, Elangbam clocked 4.02:345 minutes. She was beaten by Uzbekistan’s Renata Baymetova who clocked 3.53:120 seconds.
The bronze medal was won by Irungbam Devi who clocked 4:01.398 minutes to beat Alyona Abramchuk of Kazakhstan and give India their second medal of the event.
India’s second team — Sports Authority of India National Cycling Academy — won its first medal when Swasti Singh won the bronze medal in junior women’s 2 km individual pursuit. Kristina Titovskaya of Kazakhstan won the gold while Yanina Kuskova of Uzbekistan captured silver.
Harshveer Singh had to deal with a disappointing end in the elite men’s 15 KM Scratch Race as he failed to finish on the podium. In a world class field, the Indian finished fifth as the gold was captured by Muhammad Shaari of Malaysia. Denis Burnashov and Alexandr Bekenov, both from Kazakhstan, won the silver and bronze medals respectively
