Pune: Kerala women cyclists set the pace winning two gold medals out of the four up for grabs on the opening day of the 16th National Road Cycling Championship at the 3.3 kilometer layout in Nigdi (Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation), on Thursday.
The two Kerala top spots came from in the women section with Kezia Verghese and Vinaya Vijayan bagging the Women Criterium and Girls Criterium respectively.
A Criterium race is conducted run on closed-off city center streets.
All four races scheduled for the day were the Criterium races. The other two titles went to Pankaj Kumar (Haryana) who ran clear in the 10-lap men’s section race, while Bihar’s Rajnish Kumar won the boys title.
In the women’s event, 20-year-old Kezia, who hails from Idukki, was a dominant force over the 7-lap run. The gold was her first for the lass in the event, who is a TY BA student from the Sree Narayana College, Chempazhanthy. Rajasthan’s Panna Chowdhury was a distant second, while Parvati V.G finished third.
Trivandrum-born Vinaya, incidentally Kezia’s college-mate also claimed her first top spot in the event that she entered for the first time. “It was tough competition,” beamed Vinaya, who fought off the challenge from Seema Rana (Haryana) and Deborah (Andaman and Nicobar).
Earlier, the event was inaugurated by Maharashtra Olympic Association General Secretary Balasaheb Landge and declared open by MCA President Azam Pansare among a host of MLA dignitaries.
A total of 600 entries from 26 states have been received for the event being conducted by the Maharashtra Cycling Association (MCA) under the aegis of the Cycling Federation on India (CFI).
RESULTS
Men: 33.0 Km Criterium: 1-Pankaj Kumar (Haryana; 40 points); 2-Ashish Kumar Singh (Bihar; 18 points); 3-C Rajesh (Railways; 16 points)
Women: 23.1 km Criterium: 1-Kezia Verghese (Kerala; 20 points); 2-Pana Chowdhury (Rajasthan; 16 points); 3-Parvati V.G (Kerala; 13 points)
Boys: Under-19, 26.4 km Criterium: 1-Rajnish Kumar (Bihar; 20 points); 2-Shredhar Savanur (Karnataka; 15 points); 3-Dilawar (Haryana; 14 points)
Girls, Under-19, 16.5 km Criterium: 1-Vinaya Vijayan (Kerala; 18 points); 2-Seema Rana (Haryana; 12 points); 3-Deborah (Andaman & Nicobar; 10 points)
