Port Blair, July 15: Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Member of Parliament, A&N Islands has requested the Lt. Governor, A&N Islands to consider for constructing a Velodrome at Car Nicobar and also to develop it as full-fledged Velodrome at Port Blair suitable for conducting national cycling championship.
He informed that the people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are proud to have cyclists of international reputation namely Miss Deborah Herold and Master Esow Alben who gave new identity to Indian Cycling in the international arena. Cyclist Miss Deberoh Herold attained international recognition in the year 2013 whenshe became the first Indian woman to win a medal in junior 200 mtrs at the Asian Championship and in the year 2016 she again became the first Indian to qualify for the World Championships 2017.Similarly the another cycling sensation from these Islands Master EsowAlben catapulted Indian cycling into the international spotlight when he bagged a silver medal in the men’s keirin event at the 2018 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championship held at Switzerland which eventually is the country’s first-ever medal victory in a World Championship.
Miss Deborah and Master Esow Alben hails from the small Island of Car Nicobar having a meager population of less than twenty thousand which is a clear indication of Nicobari youths possessing inborn talent and natural physical abilities required for the sport of cycling. Hence, if a Velodrome is constructed at Car Nicobar, it will inspire more and more young Nicobaris to adopt cycling as their sporting event and definitely our Islands will be able to produce much more cyclist of national and international acclaim thereby bringing much more laurels to our Union Territory and to the Nation.
Therefore, Mr. Sharma, MP has suggested constructing a Velodrome of internationally approved specifications at Car Nicobar for creating more cycling opportunities for the young Nicobaris at their place of residence. He also further suggested that the existing Rajiv Gandhi Velodrome at Netaji Stadium, Port Blair having inherent technical defects since it’s construction way back in the year 1995 may also be developed after rectifying the technical defects so that Port Blair also have full-fledged Velodrome suitable for conducting national cycling championship and the sport of Cycling will gain more popularity.
