Cycling team off to Malaysia
A seven-member cycling team including four cyclists left for Malaysia last night to take part in the 38th Asian Track Championships and the 25th Asian Junior Track Championships, beginning tomorrow, with the hope of bagging at least one medal.
Samapti Biswas Aurthi and Shilpi Khatun will participate in four events in senior category while Nishi Khatun and Samanta will take part in four junior events -- 500m time trial, team sprint, 1000m sprint and individual pursuit.
The cyclists are hopeful about carrying the momentum from the Delhi Asian Track Championships where the men's team won a bronze medal in team sprint even last year. This time the women cyclists are optimistic about winning a bronze medal in the same event.
“We are determined to win a medal from the championships. We want to win medal in team sprint so that the junior cyclists get opportunity to play in next Youth Games, which did not feature cycling this time,” Samapti said at a press conference at the Bangladesh Cycling Federation (BCF) office yesterday. The cyclists have had one month of preparation.
The women cyclists had previously won medals in the championship, with Farhana Sultana Shila and Parul Akter winning silver and bronze medals respectively in the 2014 Delhi edition.
BCF president Mizanur Rahman Manu ensured that cycling teams would take part in the championship regularly in a bid to drawing attention of everyone despite the financial constraints.
“Last year, India helped us financially to take part in the Delhi Asian Track Championships and this time Malaysia is helping us by providing for accommodation and food. If we can arrange money, we will send both men's and women's teams in next year championships as well,” said Manu.
Comments