What's the story?
Indian men's cycling team has created history by securing their qualification for the 2020 World Track Cycling Championships that will be held later this month in Berlin, Germany.
The background
The World Track Cycling Championships is the world championship event in the track cycling sport which is held every year between the months of February and April.
Indian cyclists Jemsh Singh, Ronaldo Singh, Esow Alben and Rojit Singh have made the cut for the World Track Cycling Championship in the Men's Elite Team Sprint event.
A total of 18 teams compete across a wide range of disciplines of track cycling. The major events include disciplines of track cycling.
The heart of the matter
Indian cyclist Deborah Herold was the first Indian track cycling athlete to secure qualification for the World Track Cycling Championship when she qualified for the 2016 Championships in the 500 metres Time Trial event in the Women's competition.
Union Cycliste International is the regulatory body of the cycling sport for various distances and disciplines. The World Track Cycling Championships 2020 will be the last event that will allow the cyclists to gather necessary qualification points for being in contention for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
National cycling coach R. K. Sharma spoke highly of the young boys' achievement.
It is a huge achievement for the young boys to qualify for senior world championships. We are not worried about where the team will finish this year. The aim is to qualify for the 2024 Olympics and we are a step ahead in our goals now by qualifying for the world championships this year.
What's next?
The 2020 Championships are being held in Berlin from 26th February to 1st March 2020 with the young Indian team set to compete on the big stage for the first time. Some of the events are Time Trial, Madison, Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit, Scratch Race, Sprint, Team Sprint, Omnium, Keirin, and Points Race.