Asian Games
Asian Games 2023: David Beckham advances to men's sprint quarterfinal
David Beckham advanced to the men's sprint quarterfinal in track cycling at the Asian Games 2023.
Indian cyclist David Beckham has advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's sprint event at the 2023 Asian Games. The cycling track at the CSC Velodrome witnessed a thrilling battle as David Beckham overcame a strong rival from Kazakhstan to secure his place in the last eight.
On a challenging track that demanded nothing short of excellence, David Beckham delivered a stunning performance in the final repechage. He managed to outpace his Kazakh competitors, Sergey Ponomaryov and Andrey Kazchugay, to secure his spot in the quarterfinal.
The road to the quarterfinals was no less than tough. In the final heat, David Beckham narrowly bested Sergey Ponomaryov by a margin of 0.188 seconds, securing his ticket to the next round.
However, it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Indian contingent. Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam faced a formidable challenge in the 1/16 final repechage round and failed to advance, losing to Andrey Chugay of Kazakhstan.
In the earlier rounds, both David Beckham and Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam clocked 10.030 seconds and 10.086 seconds, respectively, earning them the ninth and 13th positions and securing their spots in the 1/16 finals.
On Tuesday, the men's sprint team broke the national record but lost to Japan. The Indian men's sprint team had previously won the junior world championships in 2019 with a time of 44.625 seconds.
In the women's keirin event, India finished fifth, falling short of qualifying for the semifinals. Similarly, Triyasha Paul gave it her all but narrowly missed qualification after finishing third in her heat.
