The modern legacy of Andaman & Nicobar cyclists
The modern India that made vast progress with Internet of Things was introduced to a sporting hero from Andaman & Nicobar Islands in 2015. A 20-year-old girl suddenly rose to fame when she became the first Indian female cyclist to be ranked fourth in the world. Deborah Herold's name was etched with glory in the World Elite Women Ranking issued by cycling world body UCI for the 500 m time trial event. At the 2013 Asian Championships, held in Delhi, she earlier became the first Indian woman to win a medal in an individual event in the 200 m junior sprint. Beyond Herald's rankings of the technicalities of track cycling, what stood out was her equally inspirational and dramatic journey.
Back in 2004, Herold was just nine years old and was at home on the day the Tsunami had struck. She had run out into an open field with her mother before they were separated by waves of seawater. Miraculously, she spent five days clinging on to a tree, crying all the while, before she was rescued by a search party. She thought she would never see her family again. From Kazan village in Car Nicobar, she was spotted by Subtend Sengupta in a 2009 camp organized by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Port Blair. Gupta arrived as a cycling coach in Andaman Nicobar Islands back in 1999. Initially a member at the State Sports Council, subtend was transferred as a coach in SAI and boasts of bringing a cycling revolution in the state where he has worked for over 21 years. "Since Deborah's success, I have been the coach for almost all the cycling stalwarts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands who have won over hundreds of medals in the last 14 years," says Gupta, who is also the local coach of another wonder boy of Indian cycling, ESO Albee.
Albee holds many first to his name. He is the first Indian to win a medal at 2018 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships when he won Silver at Karin event in Agile, Switzerland. ESO alongside his teammates Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam and Rohit Singh Yanglem won Gold in 2019 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships at Team Sprint event in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.
The love for cycling on the island
Cycling has always been popular among the Nicobar. While Deborah and ESO were the faces of the state's resurging cycling glory post Tsunami, the commitment towards the sports probably took a serious shape long back in 1985. Three years after India hosted the Asian Games in 1982, SAI launched an ambitious program called the Special Area Games (SAG) with the intention to scout natural talent for modern competitive sports and games from inaccessible tribal, rural, and coastal areas of the country.
Our roads have not always been built to prioritize cars, because the first vehicles to use the nation's streets weren't automobiles; they were carriages and bikes. In fact, the League of American Bicyclists has been around since 1880, long before cars.
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