Esow Alben creates history by winning India’s first junior cycling World Cup medal

Teen cyclist Esow Alben (17) has scripted history by winning the India’s first junior cycling World Cup medal — a silver at the men’s keirin event in the UCI Junior Track Cycling World 2018. He put enormous pressure on Czech Republic’s Jakub Stastny in the final sprint before settling for the silver medal. Esow finished just 0.017 seconds behind gold medallist Stastny in the thrilling photo-finish of a race. Alben, who hails from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, trains in Delhi at the Sports Authority of India (SAI)’s National Cycling Academy (NCA). Esow is now the top-ranked junior cyclist for the sprint event and is No. 3 for keirin, where the cyclists sprint for victory on a track following a controlled start.