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Onkar said a 2020 Olympic qualification is the target and

CFI is pinning hopes on top cyclist Deborah Herold from Andaman and Nicobar to make the Olympic breakthrough in 2020 Tokyo Games.

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doing that could herald a new era in Indian cycling. CFI is pinning hopes on top cyclist Deborah Herold from Andaman and Nicobar to make the Olympic breakthrough in 2020 Tokyo Games.

"We want to reach the Olympic level, qualify for the Olympics, win medals at the Asian level and in the Asian Games. Our first aim is to win medals at the Asian Games in 2018 and then qualify for the 2020 Olympics. I hope that will trigger a new beginning for cycling," said Onkar.

The Secretary General is hoping for better performance with the arrival of half a dozen quality cycles to be imported from England.

These cycles will be used by top cyclists like Deborah and Aleena Reji of Kerala, who are taking part in the upcoming two World Cups (in Colombia and USA this month) and World Championships (in Hong Kong in April).

"These cycles are extremely costly, double the price (Rs 10 lakh) of what we are using now. The top cyclists in the world like those of Korea, China and Japan have been using these and this is the first time our cyclists are going to use them. Naturally, the performance of our cyclists will be better," he said.

Talking about the growth of cycling since he took over as Secretary General, Onkar said, "When I took over, the highest ranking of our cyclists in one of the events was 149 out of 185 countries but now some of our cyclists are in top 10.

Deborah was 4th, then 6th and now 11th (in women's elite 500m time trial).

"Our junior boys were top ranked in team sprint (in 2014). It's a collective effort with the government and the UCI helping us in setting up this centre and the academy. All helped to come up to this level."

 

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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