David Beckham. Ronaldo.
These international stars may be household names for football buffs in the country, but, in cycling at the Asian Games 2026, the names alone failed to inspire the men’s team to a medal.
On Tuesday, the Indian track cycling teams saw their medal hopes come to an end, as they were eliminated from the men's and women's team sprint and the women's team pursuit competitions in Aichi-Nagoya.
The men's team in sprint comprising Rojit Singh, David Beckham, Ronaldo Singh and Jemsh Singh, clocked a time of 44.374 seconds, but China ultimately won the heat with a time of 42.348 seconds, securing a place in the gold medal race against Japan.
Both Beckham and Ronaldo began the day strongly, with strong performances in the initial qualifying round to book their places in the 1/16 finals. Beckham recorded 9.996 seconds to finish 14th, while Ronaldo Singh followed closely in 15th position, clocking 10.052 seconds.
But, they were unable to overcome their respective opponents in the crucial Round of 32 races.
They got a second chance in the repechage heats, but unfortunately, neither Beckham nor Ronaldo managed to win their race, thus bowing out at the Round of 32 stage.
In the women's team sprint, India’s Celestina, Sarita Kumari, Keerthi Rangaswamy and Triyasha Paul recorded a time of 50.431 seconds in their first-round heat. But, they were outpaced by Chinese Taipei, who finished in 49.504 seconds to advance to the bronze medal race.
India were also unable to progress to the medal rounds in the women's team pursuit. The team of Harshita Jakhar, Pooja Danole, Meenakshi and Swosti Singh finished last in fifth place during qualifying with a time of 4:45.151s. They subsequently competed alone against the clock in the first round.
In the medal finals for this event, China and Japan will compete for gold, while Uzbekistan and Korea will face off for the bronze.
As a result, India will have no representation in the medal races for these three track cycling events.
