Esow Alban scripts history by winning India’s first junior cycling WC medal

Esow Alban scripted history on Thursday after winning India’s first ever medal at the Junior Track Cycling World Championships event. The 17-year-old who hails from Andaman and Nicobar islands won the silver finishing just 0.017 seconds behind Jakub Stastny of Czech Republic at the men’s Keirin event on the second day of the event in Switzerland.

Alban, who is also the Junior Asian champion had topped his heats with a 200m time of 10.851 seconds. But failed to cross the line ahead of Stastny in what a photo finish ending to the race, to eventually settle for a second-place finish.

Also Read: Navjot Sidhu remembers late Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Imran Khan’s oath-taking ceremony

“I just wanted to stay at the front and avoid getting involved in any crashes. I believed I could win but I am still happy… well a little bit happy,” he was quoted saying by Scroll.in after the historic medal.

He had earlier won three gold medals at the 25th Junior Asian Track Cycling Championships in Malaysia, which included two individual medals in Keirin and Sprint and another team medal with Mayur Pawar and James Singh.

According to a report in the Indian Express, Esow who studied in the Government Model School in Port Blair, was sent to the State Sports Council Netaji Stadium by his mother after she came across a newspaper ad for induction of junior sports trainees. He was initially enrolled for rowing but was soon asked to move into cycling due to his low height.

The move though proved to be a masterstroke, with the youngest son of the Alban family winning a series of medals in the age-level categories to catch the attention of the coaches. He was shifted to the National Cycling Academy in Delhi (where he currently trains) after Esow won the silver in the under-14, 500m time trial event in the 67th National Cycling Championships in Kerala in 2015.

Esow is currently the top-ranked junior cyclist and is positioned at third for the Keirin event.