Meet the teenage cyclists from Tamil Nadu racing at the Track Asia Cup
The Hindu
Discover the dedication of Tamil Nadu's teenage cyclists competing at the Track Asia Cup, balancing sport and academics.
When I was in school, the school celebrities who were usually the athletes, were defined by their absence. They came in to write exams, disappeared again, and returned months later with medals and accolades we heard about but never saw earned. Their names travelled faster than they did, and we joked about how easy their lives must be to skip school and play games all day. What we never saw was how much of childhood they traded, and how lonely that kind of discipline can be.
At the recently concluded Track Asia Cup, a UCI Class-2 cycling competition in Chennai, we met four teenage girls who are living a version of the same trade-off. Niraimathi Jesudasan, Jai Jyotshna, Thabitha S and Srimathi Jesudasan move through days split between early-morning training, self-study done in fragments, and long hours spent with coaches, teammates and competition. Much of their time is structured, supervised, and purposeful, leaving little space for anything that does not directly serve the next session on the track.
The Track Asia Cup awards international ranking points towards their Olympic campaigns and features riders from across Asia. Track cycling is raced on steeply banked oval velodromes, where rankings are decided by margins of time and position.
(L-R) Thabitha S, Srimathi J and Jai Jyotshna | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“We come from a very poor background, all our equipment, shoes, and cycles were given to us by Kanimozhi ma’am (Thoothukkudi MP, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi). The more medals we won, the more she helped us, so we got the confidence to keep going,” says Niraimathi Jesudasan who hails from Thoothukkudi. Niraimathi fared well under the Women Elite - Time Trial category finishing 1km at 1 minute 24 seconds in this tournament. “It is difficult when I compete with seniors, but this is my first year competing in the elite category, and I’m enjoying the difficulties,” says the 19-year-old.
Her older sister, Srimathi Jesudasan also fared well in two categories; Women Elite - Keirin, and Women Elite - Sprint. “My father was a tailor and we went through a lot during the pandemic. I participated in the Thoothukkudi district championshiop for cycling and won a gold medal after only training for a few months, and the more I trained, the more medals I won. I have around 20 medals in various championships now,” she says.
