Indian track cyclists crash out in qualification round of Asiad

Indian men’s pursuit quartet of Manjeet Singh, Bike Athokpam Singh, Dilawar and Raju Bati finished bottom of the pile With a time of 4:23.251s.

The Chinese men's Team Pursuit team at the 16th Asian Games in 2010. (representational image)

India began its campaign in cycling track events of the Asian Games in a disappointing fashion with its men’s and women’s sprint and pursuit teams failing to qualify for the final rounds here today.

In the team sprint events, both the men and women finished seventh in the qualification round out of eight participants.

The men’s sprint team of Appolonious, Esow and Ranjit Singh clocked 46.862 seconds while the women’s team of Deborah Herold and Sonali Chanu completed the race in 35.305s.

With a time of 4:23.251s, Indian men’s pursuit quartet of Manjeet Singh, Bike Athokpam Singh, Dilawar and Raju Bati finished at the bottom of the pile at 10th in the qualification round.

Then, the Indian women’s quartet of Sonali Chanu, Nayana Priyadarsini, Elangbm Chaoba Devi and Megha Gugad clocked 5:05.388s in the team pursuit to finish at fifth and last in the qualifying round.