AI image generated using Stable Diffusion
The 28th Senior 14th Junior Asian Mountain Bike Championships will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, over October 26-29, 2023.
The competition assumes importance as it is a continental championship offering qualification for the cross-country MTB discipline at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The venue for the event is Ponmudi, a hill station roughly 65 kilometres north-east of the city. Ponmudi (elevation: 3600 feet above sea level) hosts the southernmost tea plantations in India. Tracks for cross country and downhill competitions have been specially created for the Asian MTB championship. As of October 24, several countries – including China, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Philippines and host India - had arrived for the event, officials at the organizing team's office in the city, said. With more nations expected, an updated list should be available closer to the event's start.
Cross country mountain biking made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, 100 years after track and road cycling featured for the first time at the sports extravaganza. The discipline will be a part of the Games at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Races for men and women will take place at Elancourt Hill in Paris. As per information on Olympics.com, a total of 72 athletes will compete in the MTB competition at Paris. After setting aside four slots for the host country and Universality Places, the remaining 68 berths – 34 each for men and women – will be allotted on the basis of competitions leading up to the Games with a maximum of two quota places (for men and women) for each National Olympic Committee. Points acquired during UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualifying events will be considered for securing a berth at the Olympics. The qualification period spans May 7, 2023 to May 26, 2024. `` UCI rankings will be decided by adding together the points of the three highest-ranked athletes from each NOC across the qualification period,'' the website said.
A maximum of two Continental Championships are included in the ranking with the last two counted if there are more than two championships held. `` Outside of Europe and Oceania, a maximum of one athlete can qualify per NOC at the Cross-country Continental Championships for Africa, America and Asia - with the highest-ranked NOC allocated each place,'' the website said, adding, `` the two highest-ranked NOCs at the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in both the elite and under 23 races, which have not qualified a quota place through the UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualification ranking or the 2023 Continental Championships, will qualify a maximum of one place per NOC, with NOCs which have qualified through the elite race not eligible to qualify through the under 23 race.''
The website of the 2024 Paris Olympics, provided an overview of the Olympic cross country MTB competition: `` There are two cross-country mountain bike events, one for women and one for men. Riders set off from the same starting line and contest multiple laps around a loop on mountainous, rough terrain that tests their technique, endurance and stamina. Races feature a mass start and, in general, multiple laps. Riders take 1h20 to 1h40 to complete an intense course full of twists and turns, covering tens of kilometres during the event.'' At Ponmudi, cross country Olympic is only one of the disciplines on offer. According to information on the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale / the apex body in cycling) website, the races due at Ponmudi span categories for men and women; classified into elite, under-23 and junior. The disciplines scheduled are in the main downhill and cross-country Olympic. There is also a mixed elite cross-country relay and cross-country eliminator (elite men and women).
That the event in Ponmudi is important to the Asian MTB ecosystem was underscored when both Li Hongfeng and Mi Jiujiang, Chinese cyclists who won gold in the women's and men's categories respectively at the recent Asian Games in Hangzhou, said in an interview that they would be traveling to India for the continental championships as route to potentially qualifying for the 2024 Olympics. The interview in which they said so (available on YouTube) has been appended at the end of this article. At the 2022 Asian Games, the silver medal in the men's cross country MTB event was secured by Yuan Jinwei of China while bronze went to Japan's Toki Sawada. In the women's section, silver was won by Ma Caixia of China while Iran's Faranak Partoazar took the bronze. Interestingly at the Hangzhou Asian Games, India was represented in track cycling but not in MTB.
According to the organizing team officials in Thiruvananthapuram, the track prepared at Ponmudi is very good. It is located on the premises of Ponmudi's Merchiston Estate. Thanks to a monsoon increasingly erratic in its schedule and intensity by the year, ideal weather conditions have been playing hide and seek in Thiruvananthapuram. When it rains, Ponmudi is known to become cool and bathed in mist. As per data on the website of AccuWeather, the forecast for Thiruvananthapuram for the next few days continues to be a mix of sunshine and rain.
(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)
No comments:
Post a Comment