Marathe remarked. Punjab's Gurlal Singh, the only Indian cyclist (able-bodied or otherwise) to win a medal at the Asian Games stage, helped India win its second bronze
Indian para-athlete Divij Shah
Indian para-athletes put up a brilliant performance to secure one silver and two bronze medals at the Asian Road Para-Cycling Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan recently.
Divij Shah, a Sales Manager at a private company in Bangalore, missed gold by just six seconds, but continued his remarkable form at the prestigious event to clinch his third successive silver medal in 20km time trial race with a timing of 30 mins and 30seconds.
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"I missed the gold by just six seconds. I was in great form and this was my best effort till date. I was close to where I wanted to be, but now all my efforts will go into avoiding those marginal errors," Shah, 27, who is planning to participate in the Para Cycling Cup at Malaysia next month, told mid-day from Hyderabad yesterday.
Maharashtra's Sudhakar Marathe (from Dhule), a constable at the Border Security Force in Amritsar, suffered a train accident in June 2017. He trained for only six months at the Aditya Mehta Foundation in Hyderabad before he got an opportunity to don the Indian jersey.
He returned with a bronze medal in the 20km Hand Cycling event. "I did not take part in any sports even during my school days. But, after my accident, I took a liking for hand cycling. I never thought of winning a medal because my competitors had been participating in this event for the last 10 years," Marathe remarked. Punjab's Gurlal Singh, the only Indian cyclist (able-bodied or otherwise) to win a medal at the Asian Games stage, helped India win its second bronze.
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