Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 12: In a cricket-crazy country individual feats like the one achieved by cyclist Deborah Herold rarely gets noticed. The lithe lady, she has to be as she has to set the Velodrome (cycling tracks) on fire, has become World No. 4 – a feat that can be compared to the achievements of Saina Nehwal, Pankaj Advani and a few other individual greats of Indian sports.
Quietly, yet surely, the girl from Andaman, who survived the 2004 Tsunami when she was nine years old, has secured herself a place in India’s sporting history. Disaster struck the Car Nicobar air base where her father worked. Yet, she clung on to a tree for a full day to beat nature’s wrath. Probably that must have imbibed in her the steely determination that one needs to succeed at the international level.
But then as they say destiny also plays a part in any sportspersons success. Deborah aspired to be a long-jumper, cycling to her was a method to fulfil her daily chores. But then in 2010, she bought her cycle along to an event just to make up the numbers. And in the process she won it, surprising all the experts present in the arena. They persuaded her to change tracks and take up cycling and since then the rest has been history.
There has been no looking back since then, for the girl who still finds it difficult to communicate in English and Hindi. But the grit that she has more than makes up for her communication deficiencies. A senior cycling official in the capital had an interesting tale to tell about Deborah, when contacted over the phone, Saturday.
“The cyclists during a training session were asked to participate in rope climbing activities to test their strengths. While the men could complete the event only once, Deborah did it thrice without breaking a sweat,” said the official. “It just shows the stuff she is made off.”
With every passing year, Deborah has grown in stature since she arrived at the capital to train under renowned coach RK Sharma. She won two gold medals in the junior segment of the 2012 Nationals and from then on it has been a medal-winning spree.
Just before the Track Asia Cup in November, this year where she won one silver and two bronze medals, Deborah bagged five medals (one gold, three silver and one bronze) in the Taiwan Cup Track International Classic in October. It was the best-ever medal haul by an Indian cyclist in an international meet.
In the recently-concluded Track Asia event in New Delhi, Deborah finished with one gold and two silver medals. She won the gold in the women’s elite sprint clocking 13.614 seconds to beat her South Korean rival Cho Sun Young (13.704 seconds). Her medals went a long way in helping the host nation finish third in the medals tally.
Cycling Federation of India (CFI) secretary-general Onkar Singh however, pointed out that Deborah has the potential to become World No. 1. “She has immense talent and is never shy of putting in the extra hours to achieve her goals,” said Onkar over the phone from New Delhi. “She is special because every time she ventures into the track she has some improvement to show for it. A rare talent indeed,” added Onkar.
For the cyclist however, her ultimate goal is to ‘become World No. 1’ as she states on her FB page. One can only wish that her dreams turn true.
