Hosts India draw blank on final day, end at 11th in Asian Cycling

New Delhi: India's campaign in the 37th Asian Track Cycling Championships ended in disappointment with just two bronze as the host country failed to win any medal on the final day of competitions here on Friday.

India had won a bronze each on the first and second days of competitions through junior women cyclists -- in team sprint and individual 500m time trial -- but went medal-less three days on the trot after that.

The first bronze came in the junior women's team sprint event through Shushikala Agashe and Aleena Reji. The second bronze was also won by Reji in junior women's 500m time trial event.

India's top medal hope Deborah Herold failed to finish on the podium in the elite category in the three events she competed -- 500m time trial, keirin and sprint.

With two bronze, India finished 11th in the medal's tally while South Korea emerged on top with 9 gold, 13 silver and 8 bronze medals.

China finished second with 8 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze while the third spot went to Japan with 7 gold, 5 silver and 13 bronze.

London Olympics bronze medallist Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong emerged as the star performer of the competition as she grabbed her third yellow metal by winning the women's elite keirin event today.

Indian riders Deborah Herold and Nayana Rajesh finished 10th and 12th respectively in this event.

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Mohd Azizulhasni Awang won Malaysia's first gold in men's elite sprint event. Awang had finished a disappointing ninth in the men's elite keirin event but made up for his loss with an extremely scintillating performance in the sprint event today.

Yao Pang and Meng Zhao Juan of Hong Kong claimed gold in the women's elite 30km madison race final with a total of 115 points. The pair raced superbly, finishing almost three laps ahead of the rest of the field.

India's Shushikala Agashe, who had won a bronze in the women's junior team sprint event, finished eighth in the keirin event of the same category.

The event saw a minor crash that involved Cho Yiu Yeung of Hong Kong. The crash disrupted Shushikala's concentration and as a result she could not move into the finals.

"I could have qualified for the finals. I got distracted because of the crash. This is my debut international tournament and I have performed as I had hoped to," Agashe said.

Sachin Desai gave a splendid performance in the men's junior omnium event. He began his chase by coming in third in his first race -- scratch race 7.5km. In his last race, Desai fell out twice due to minor crashes, but re-joined the race both times, to produce an over-all fifth place finish with a total of 101 points.

Results:
Junior Men's Sprint (Finals): 1. Kaito Kajihara (JPN), 2. Shinji Nakano (JPN), 3. Hyunoh Park (KOR).
Junior Men's Omnium (Finals): 1. Iogan Shtein (KAZ) 137 pts, 2. Ghalehsefidi Jamshidan (IRI) 128 pts, 3. Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli (MAS) 111 pts;
Men's Elite Sprint (Finals): 1. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (MAS), 2. Tomoyuki Kawabata (JPN), 3. Yuta Wakimoto (JPN).
Men's Elite Madison 50km (Finals): 1. KOR 86 pts, 2. KAZ 80 pts, 3. JPN 69 pts.
Women Juniors Keirin (Finals): 1. Chao Yue Shen (CHN), 2. Anastassiya Shapovalova (KAZ), 3. Jia Fang Hu (CHN)
Women Elite Keirin (Finals): 1. Lee Wai Sze (HKG), 2. Hyejin Lee (KOR), 3. Kayono Maedo (JPN)
Women Elite Madison 30km: 1. HKG 115 pts, 2. KOR 40 pts, 3. JPN 28 pts.