Manorama, Deborah win bronze for India

New Delhi (PTI): India's Deborah and Manorama Devi on Sunday won a bronze in the team sprint event to give hosts their second medal on the penultimate day of the Hero Asian Cycling Championships here. The pair defeated Malaysia's Faihah Shahwati Mohd Adnan and Nurul Alissa Mohamad Azman by coming home just 0.148 secs ahead of their opponents. The Indians, who started from the home straight, were quick to pounce on a lead against their counterparts who began from the opposite side (back straight) of the curved track. Manorama, was little slow as she completed the first lap in 22.243 secs as compared to Malaysia's rider (21.527).A Deborah, however, wrested back the advantage and completed the race with an aggregate of 38.645 secs to bag a podium finish in the junior category while the Malaysian duo took 38.793 secs to finsh the two-lap race. "I am very happy to have won a medal for the country. Credit goes to my coach Ibomcha Motum and my uncle Ingenjao who must be praying for me to do well in Manipur," Manorama said. Earlier in the day, Faihah and Nurul had qualified with better timings (38.848 secs) as compared to the Indian pair (39.245 secs). "The Malaysian girls were faster than us in the qualifying stage. But, we knew it was going to be touch and go. We had to give it our best shot and I was confident with Debrorah by my side," the 16-year old said.