Asian Road Para-Cycling Championships | India win one silver and two bronze medals
The India para-athletes competing in the Asian Road Para-Cycling Championships, which had nine members, finished the campaign with three medals. The contingent had undergone training in Hyderabad’s Aditya Mehta Foundation Academy under coach K Dathatraye and physiotherapist Ms Asha Shaikh.
As many as 28 countries participated in the championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from April 23-28, amongst whom India managed to clinch one silver and two bronze medals. Leading from the front was Divij Shah, who extended his brilliant record at this prestigious tournament by winning his third consecutive silver in the C5 category.
“Feels great to have retained the silver position for the third time. A lot of hard work needs to go in to cover up the gap to get the gold. I have received tremendous support from Cycling Federation of India and Aditya Mehta Foundation to make it to the top,” said Shah, reported Scroll.in.
Apart from Shah, India also had Asian Para Games bronze medallist Gurlal Singh taking part in the CS section, and he added to the medal tally by winning a bronze medal. Singh was the only Indian cyclist (able-bodied or otherwise) to win a medal at the Asian Games level.Â
Hand cyclist Sudhakar Marathe, who had suffered an accident in June 2017, was making his debut and managed to get the second bronze in the H5 category after training for just six months.
India’s para-athlete contingent comprised of four border security force para-athletes- Para-cyclists Harinder Singh (Punjab), Gurlal Singh (Punjab), Kaigoulal, and Hand-cyclist Sudhakar Marathe (Maharashtra), and one central reserve police force para-cyclist, Birbhadra Singh. The other three civilians were Prashant Arkal (Maharashtra), Divij Shah (Andhra Pradesh) and Arshad Shaikh (Andhra Pradesh).
India have been impressive in the tournament in laast two years, bagging a silver and a bronze medal in each edition, thanks to Divij Shah and Harinder Singh respectively.