BHUBANESWAR: Dinesh Kumar, son of a small-time shop-keeper in Rourkela, became the first-ever cycling gold medallist in Khelo India Youth Games at Guwahati on Sunday. He bagged the medal in the U-21 individual 30 km event by clocking 40:11:133 seconds.
The silver and bronze medals were claimed by Anil Manglaw (Haryana) with 40:23:361 and Raju Bati (Karnataka) with 41:05:179 seconds respectively.
Nineteen-year-old Dinesh often helped his father during his childhood in the Steel City. Zipping around the neighbourhood on a bicycle and doing odd jobs, he fell in love with cycling. By the time he turned 10, cycling had become an obsession and is now the calling of his life.
Elated Dinesh feels he is lucky. “I come from a family that has never been inclined towards competitive sport. We just couldn’t afford it. But my father encouraged me after seeing my passion for cycling,” he said.
It was a typical day out for Dinesh on the first day of the competition on Sunday. Sporting a jersey inspired by the Great Britain cycling team, he produced a flawless performance that would have made Bradley Wiggins proud.
Even though he has been creating waves on the national circuit for some time now, Dinesh remains a small-time boy at heart. “How many times will they announce my name?” he winced, as the music jockey read out the results for the ninth time.
The Indian Air Force employee didn’t even realise that he had created a record of sorts in the Khelo India Youth Games as he has won the first ever gold medal in cycling, a sport that made its debut here.
“In 2015, I went to Kerala for the national track championships and performed well to get selected to enter SAI, Delhi. That’s when my journey in cycling truly began,” he explained.
Two years later, he was recruited by the Indian Air Force and he has been practising at NIAS, Patiala since then.
“It was good but tough course. It was not easy to maintain speed because of the bends, and also at places, the road was a bit bumpy. But it didn’t bother me much,” he said.
With a medal in his kitty, Dinesh will be in action on the road race on Monday too as he will take part in the track events.