Asian Cycling: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan share honours on day two

Greater Noida, March 14 (IANS): Uzbekistan’s Muradian Halmuratov and Kazakh Daniil Fominykh won a gold each in the road races of the Hero Asian Cycling Championship being held here at the Buddh International Circuit Thursday.

Kazakhstan now lead the standings with two gold medals, as many silver and a bronze.

Hong Kong picked up from where they left off in track events to occupy the second spot with one gold and a bronze in their kitty. Uzbekistan and Mongolia, with a lone gold medal apiece, are tied at third spot.

The day began with the men’s elite individual time trial race, in which riders from 23 countries participated, covering 42.6 kms on a topsy turvy Formula1 track.

Uzbek Halmuratov came into the championships with a point to prove after failing to finish on the podium at the London Olympics.

Halmuratov staved off a stiff challenge from Kazakh Andrey Mizurov to bag the gold with a timing of 51:51.111. While Mizurov clocked 52:00.601 for silver, Eugen Halmuratav of Kyrgyzstan finished third with 52:22.073.

India’s Gurmeet Singh came 17th, finishing ahead of five other riders. He clocked 59:22.136 at an average speed of a little over 42 kmph. “I was happy to finish ahead of at least five riders because this was my first big race. My average speed was good but I found the course really tough. We have never trained in such conditions before,” he said.

Fominykh kept the Kazakh flag flying high with the gold in the under-23 individual time trial clocking 34:27.855. Duc Tam Trinh, who won the first medal for Vietnam in the competition, recorded 34:37.079 to win the silver while Korean Jaeyeon Im claimed bronze setting 35:27.195.

Suresh Bishnoi produced 39:16.362 to finish 15th in the 14.2 km race with an average speed of 43.39 kmph. The gold winning Kazakh rode with an average of speed of 49.44 kmph.

Results:

Individual Time Trial – Men Elite

Muradian Halmuratov – Uzbekistan – 51:51.111

Andrey Mizurov – Kazakhstan – 52:00.601

Eugen Wacker – Kyrgystan – 52:22.073

Individual Time Trial – Under 23

Daniil Fominykh – Kazakhstan – 34:27.855

Duc Tam Trinh – Vietnam – 34:37.079

Jaeyeon Im – Korea – 35:27.195