Deborah misses out on second gold; Korea tops table

Deborah Herold won the women’s sprint gold beating Korea's Cho Sun Yong. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Having won the sprint, she suffers a fall 30m from the finish-line in the keirin

Just when in sight of her second gold medal of the day, home favourite Deborah Herold slipped on the final lap of the 2-km keirin final in the Track Asia Cup cycling championship here on Friday, making the way for Kim Wong Yeong and Cho Sun Young to give Korea a 1-2 finish.

A wave of shock and dismay swept the Yamuna Velodrome when Deborah lost her balance in a bid to overtake teammate Kezia Vargheese, around 30 metres from the finish-line. As Deborah slipped, Thailand’s Pannaray Rasee who was following the two Indians, also lost control and fell on her shoulder, and the Korean duo seized their opportunity.

Till that point, the home team’s strategy of Kezia setting the pace for Deborah had seemed to be working.

Thailand’s Supuksorn Nuntana took the bronze.

A dejected Deborah, at the insistence of chief coach R.K. Sharma, symbolically completed the race by carrying her bike across the finish-line.

Rasee, though, was rushed to hospital with a suspected collar-bone fracture.

Earlier in the day, Deborah won her only gold of the competition in the 200m sprint.

In all, the three Indian teams — including SAINCA and Western India Team — collected four gold, four silver and six bronze medals.

However, the Indian men drew a blank. The ladies, thanks mainly to Deborah, collected a gold medal and two silvers.

Due to lack of serious competition, the Indian junior men won three bronze while the junior women won two gold, a silver and two bronze medals.

As expected, Korea topped the table with six gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

Later, the World Cycling Centre (WCC) Satellite India was inaugurated here, with the International Cycling Union, Cycling Federation of India and the Sports Authority of India as partners.

Though there are 181 nations affiliated to the world body, this is only the third such centre. The other centres are in Japan and Korea.

The results:

Men: 200m Sprint: For gold: Jin Won Gu (Kor) bt Ali Askari (Iri); For bronze: Kim Jung Yeal (Kor) beat Farshid Fasinejadian (Iri); 4 km Team Pursuit: Korea 4:11.017, 2. Astana-Kazakhstan 4:19.320; 3. Hong Kong 4:20.767. 2 km keirin: 1. Mohammad Daneshvarkhorram (Iri), 2. Ali Askari (Iri), 3. Jun Won Gu (Kor).

30 km point race: 1. Nikita Panassenko (Astana-Kazakshtan) 105, 2. Timur Gumerov (Uzb) 73, 3. Lau Wan Yau Vincent (Hkg) 52.

Junior Men: 200m sprint: For gold: Thanawat Uraikit (Tha) bt Saiid Suwaidan (UAE); For bronze: Emerson (Ind) bt Arkaprova Baul (Ind).

4 km Team Pursuit: 1. Uzbekistan 4:49.630, 2. UAE 4:42.679; India 3:36.419.

Women: 200m Sprint: For gold: Deborah Herold (Ind) bt Cho Sun Yong (Kor), For bronze: Kim Soo Jin (Kor) bt Kezia Vargheese (Ind).

2 km keirin: 1. Kim Wong Yeong (Kor), 2. Cho Sun Yong (Kor), 3. Supuksorn Nuntana (Tha).

Junior Women: 200m sprint: For gold: 1. Nayana Rajesh (Ind) bt Fatemeh Hadavand (Iran Suren Team).

For bronze: Anu Chutia (Ind) bt Parastoo Bastidehkharghani (Iran Suren Team).