Deborah Herold becomes first Indian to qualify for Cycling World Championships
Indian cycling sensation Deborah Herold has added one more feather to her cap, by becoming the first Indian to seal a berth in upcoming 2016 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Cycling World Championships, which will be held in London, at the Lee Valley VeloPark from March 2-6.
The qualification for the Track Cycling World Championships is based on the points tally of a cyclist at the UCI organized events, and Deborah has dazzled on the track in the last one year.
Back in December, Deborah Herold jumped six places, to become World No.4, in the latest World Elite Women Ranking released by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to become the highest-ranked Indian woman cyclist in history. Her consistent performances have also helped the Indian team climb up to 13 and become the highest ranked Asian country in the 500m time trial, beating China at 15.
In the Track Asia Cup, which was a three-day event held in November at New Delhi, Deborah won a gold medal in the women's elite sprint event on the final day, beating South Korea's Cho Sun Young with a timing of 13.614 seconds. That was her third medal in the event, which helped India to a third place finish with 11 medals.
She also became the first-ever Indian cyclist to win in the women's elite section at the 2015 Taiwan Cup, held at the Hsin Chu Velodrome, back in October. She ended the event with one gold, three silver and one bronze medal.
"This is another feather in her cap. It just goes to show what hard work and dedication can do, and we are all very proud of her. Only 20 cyclists in the world qualify for the event. Hers is really a phenomenal career graph," VN Singh, assistant secretary of the Cycling Federation of India, told Times of India.
Deborah is currently participating in the 36th Asian Cycling Championships, in Japan, and Singh has hoped for more success for her in the event. He said, "Hopefully Deborah can do well there and bring further laurels to the country. If she scores points at the ACC too, these will be added and she stands to rise further in the standings. We are all very, very proud of herā.