After controversies, Indian cycling looks to get back on track

It has been far from an ideal preparation for the Indian cycling team that will compete in its first international meet in two years at the Asian Track Cycling Championships at the IG Sports Complex velodrome here beginning Saturday.

The lead-up has been rather stormy as a woman cyclist levelled allegations of sexual harassment against chief coach RK Sharma during their camp in Slovenia. The endurance team’s tour was cut short by a week and called back on June 8.

Sharma's contract was terminated based on a preliminary report of a probe panel constituted by the Sports Authority of India. VN Singh was given charge of the team just days before the competition. Following the incident, there were reports of other cyclists revealing a toxic team environment under Sharma.

In this backdrop, 36 Indian cyclists and eight para-cyclists will compete in the six-day event that will see participation from 15 countries, including Japan and Korea. Competition will be held in both junior and senior category.

“The cyclists have prepared well and are looking forward to their first international tournament after two years,” said Singh. “Some of them were already training here. We are hopeful that the team will perform well not only in the sprinting but also in endurance events.”

The woman cyclist, a national junior champion, is also part of the squad and despite the mental trauma she has gone through, she has decided to compete.

"I am expecting a medal and my total focus (mentally) is on the competition," she was quoted by PTI.

"My performance has been good recently and I came first in the trials. But there was no (international) competition for the past two years because of COVID-19. We had a camp in Slovenia (in the run up to the Asian Track Championships). I have trained well and I have events all days," said the cyclist.

A coach associated with her said initially she was not in the right state of mind but has done well to shift her focus on training.

“When she came back from Slovenia she was in a state of shock but was able to bring her focus back to training. She has been having sessions with a psychologist and wants to give her best,” said the coach.

All eyes will be on Esow Alben, Ronaldo Singh and Rojit Singh, who won a historic team sprint gold at the World Junior Championships in Frankfurt in 2019.

Esow will compete in sprint, team sprint and Keirin events in the senior category.

India also have a strong endurance team led by Vishwajit Singh who has been performing well in pursuit and breaking records at the national level.

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