Port Blair, Aug 18: Indian cyclist Esow Alben won a silver medal at the sprint event of the World Junior Track Cycling Championship on Saturday in Frankfurt, clocking the second-fastest timing to Konstantinos Livanos of Greece in the final.
In the qualifying stage, he finished 7th out of 47 contestants to move into the pre-quarterfinal. A win over John Trovas (Australia) and Sam Gallacher (Australia) took him comfortably to the semi-final where his opponent was Julien Jager.
Earlier, Esow won the bronze medal on Thursday in the men’s keirin event. Esow finished behind Greece’s Konstantinos Livanos who won gold and Australia’s Sam Gallagher who won silver.
He was also the part of the Indian team, along with L Ronaldo Singh, Y Rojit Singh and Jemsh Singh, who won a historic first men’s team sprint gold at the event. This was India’s first gold at a world cycling event, senior or junior.
Esow is currently the top-ranked junior cyclist in the world in the sprint and keirin events.
In 2018, the cycling star from Andaman and Nicobar Islands had become the first Indian to win a medal at the Junior Track Cycling World Championships when he won the silver in the men’s Keirin event.
