India’s cycling team has made the country proud by winning a total of 16 medals, bagging 8 on the final day of the Track Asia Cup in New Delhi. The Indian team won two gold on the final day at the Cycling Velodrome in Indra Gandhi Stadium.

India’s 16 medals is (five gold, four silver and seven bronze) behind Hong Kong with 18 medals (11 gold, four silver and three bronze).

“I am satisfied with the performance of our cyclists in the Track Asia Cup, especially junior cyclists have shown good performance in this prestigious event and lived up to the expectations,” India’s coach RK Sharma said on Friday.

Deborah Herold, the Tsunami survivor from the Andamans, clinched the top position in her Final Sprint event with a time of 12.576 and 12.493 in the first and second rounds, respectively. She beat Zhaojuan of Hong Kong, who clocked 12.820 and 12.734 in both the rounds to settle for silver. The third position was taken by Farina Shawati of Malaysia with a time of 12.552 and 12.342.  Another Indian – Kezia Vargheese – missed the bronze medal by a whisker, finishing fourth in this event.  Deborah, however, lost the gold medal in her favourite event – Keirin – and managed to win a silver ahead of her team-mate Kezia Varghesse, who bagged the bronze.

Overall, the 21-year-old Deborah was the most successful Indian cyclist at the event, having clinched three golds and one silver medal.

In the Men’s Elite Keirin event, Indian cyclist Amarjeet Singh finished 8th, but in the Junior Keirin competition, Emerson won the bronze medal for India.

In the Men Junior Sprint final, the bronze medal went to India’s Sanuraj P, who clocked 12.203 and 12.322 in the first and second rounds, respectively.  The Women Junior Sprint final saw India bagging the first two spots and adding another gold and silver to the medals tally.  Nayana Rajesh got the gold after clocking 12.658 and 12.865 in the two rounds, while Anu Chutia grabbed the silver with a timing of 12.764 and 13.178. Hoi Wah of Hong Kong was third position a time of 13.644 and 13.300.

The main attraction of the day was the point race of 30km, where 14 riders took part and had to complete 120 rounds of the track. Indian couldn’t win a medal in this race as Krishna Nayakodi and Ramesh Nagarajan secured eighth place and 10th place, respectively.