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Brief History

Cycle is a poor man’s transport, hobby of rich man and medical activity for the old. In most of the cases, a child life starts with a cycle, two wheeled & tri – wheeled irrespective of his/her status of being from a rich, middle or poor family , hence, it may be mentioned that the cycling activity starts in the beginning of childhood and it becomes a sport at 10-12 years of age.

Cycling as a sports was introduced in India with the efforts of Sh. Janki Das in mid thirties. It found its International level when Sh. Janki Das, the lone Indian Cyclist participated in the British Empire Games at Sydney (Australia) in 1938 with Swami Jagan Nath accompanied as Manager.

With the pioneering of these two, Indian Cycling was to secure affiliation of National Cycling Federation to the National Cyclists Union of England. A few years later, another stalwart Sh. Sohrab H. Bhoot of Bombay & Sh. Janki Dass joined hands in furtherance of cycling sports & formed the National Cyclists Federation of India in 1946 & secure affiliation of this new body with Union Cyclists International (UCI). The same year, Indian Cycling Team participated in World Cycling Championships held in Switzerland. Thereafter, Indian cycling teams participated in London Olympics in 1948 & World Cycling Championships at Amsterdam in 1946 & Brussels in 1949.

Cycling was one of the sports in 1st Asian Games held at National Stadium, New Delhi in 1951. At that time Sh. Sohrab H. Bhoot, who was President of National Cyclists Federation of India, formally constituted the Asian Cycling Federation with himself as its founder President.

During 1st Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1951, the following Indian Cyclists won the medals as under :-

1.	Sh. R. K. Mehra	:	Silver Medal in 4000 Mtr Team Pursuit
2.	Sh. Madan Mohan	:	Silver Medal in 4000 Mtr Team Pursuit
3.	Sh. Lhanguard	:	Silver Medal in 4000 Mtr Team Pursuit
4.	Sh. Gudev Singh	:	Silver Medal in 4000 Mtr Team Pursuit
5.	Sh. N C Bysack	:	Bronze Medal in 1000 Mtr Time Trial
6.	Sh. Sanwas Shah	:	4th Position in 120 Miles Road Race

Late Sh. Amar Singh Sokhi won Silver Medal in 4000 Mtr. Individual Pursuit held in Japan as part of Asian Cycling Championships in 1962.

In 1955, the National Cyclists Federation of India ran into certain difficulties with the Govt. of India leading to withdrawl its recognition & as a result the Indian Teams could not participate in any of the International Competitions/Championships. This stalemate continued for about 6 years.

It was 1962, when the Indian Olympic Association, through its good office could get the dispute resolved with the selection of Sh. Abhijit Sen of Sen Raleigh Cycles as President of National Cyclists Federation of India & subsequently the Federation with its new office bearers, was granted recognition by the Govt. of India. Soon after breaking the ice, an Indian Cycling Team consisting of Late Lalbir Singh, Sucha Singh, Late Amar Singh Billing & Late Amar Singh Sokhi & Chetan Singh Hari with Sh. R. K. Mehra as Manager cum Coach, participated in 1964 Tokyo Olympics as a part of Indian Contingent. The team, which did not have any practice on 45 degree track as in the Tokyo Olympics, obviously could not put up any creditable performance, which became a restraining factor for future International participation. Again it was after a gap of 6 years & with the persistent efforts of office bearers of the recreation a team of 9 cyclists & 2 officials was sent to participate in the VI Asian Games, Bangkok in 1970 as a part of Indian Cycling Teams in International Competitions/Championships became smooth. In 1966, the name of cycling body in India was changed to its present Cycling Federation of India in conformity of General Regulation of Olympic Games & Indian Olympic Association. The election of office bearers earlier held after every three years but the tenure to 4 years was amended through its Constitution in 1979 as to be in the line followed by Indian Olympic Association.

FACILITIES AVAILABLE: The first facility for cycling sports appeared in the form of a concrete track in National Stadium, New Delhi which was built around an athletic track in 1951 for 1st Asian Games with a maximum elevation of 27 degree on the curves & a length of 466 mtr. Second similar track was built in Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium, Bombay in 1952. Another track was also built in Yadvindra Stadium, Patiala with bitumen surface having a length of 469 mtr & maximum elevation of 12 degree at the curves. One bitumen track of similar type with a slightly higher elevation at the curves was built in Ranteevra Stadium, Bangalore around 1960 – 61 & another in sport school, Rai in 1974. The first good track nearly to an International Standard was built in Punjabi University, Patiala in 1975. This is a track of concrete built around an athletic track with a length of 500 mtr & maximum elevation of 38 degree at curves. Since then, this track has been used for a number of National Championships. Inter University Championships, Inter Railways Championships & for National Coaching Camps to prepare Indian Cycling Team for International Competitions/Championships. Another track of similar type was constructed in Bikaner (Rajasthan) curing 1980. Having these tracks, the two cities, Patiala & Bikaner have assumed the role of nurseries of cyclists. The gifts of cycling sports in India once again appeared when hosting of IX Asian Games organized by our country in 1982. An International standard concrete track was built in New Delhi & named as Yamuna Velodrome. This track has 333.33 mtr length with maximum elevation of 38 degrees at the curves. This track was built after detailed calculations & consultations by experts & civil engineers. The entry to arena is through a tunnel with no facilities for other play ground inside.

At present, there are more many tracks of International standard beside the above 6 tracks :-

1.	Punjabi Agriculture University, Ludhiana	:	333.33 mtr
2.	Jaipur, Rajasthan	:	333.33 mtr
3.	Pune, Maharashtra	:	333.33 mtr
4.	Trivandrum, Kerala	:	333.33 mtr
5.	NIS Patiala	:
6.	Railway Recreational Club, Secundrabad	:
7.	Imphal	:	333.33 mtr
8.	Hyderabad	:	333.33 mtr
Under Construction :
9.	Jabalpur	:
10.	Guwahati	:

In comparison of early years of cycling sports in our country, there are many concrete tracks now for training, although it is not good enough for a vast country like ours.

COURSES

For the first time, a course of National level coaches was arranged in Nov 1980 with the help of FIAC who financed the deputation of an International Coach & NIS who finance all other expenditure of the foreign coach, seven Indian coach & one from Bangladesh qualified finally as National level coaches. Since then the coaching of all cyclists including Indian Cycling Teams started under the supervision of these qualified coaches.

Two courses for National Commissaires were held in 1980. Mr. I. V. B. Hansen of Denmark, an International Commissaire of high repute was deputed by FIAC as teacher. 28 Officials qualified as National Commissaires out of these two courses, 1 st course from 25 th October 1982 to 3 rd November 1982 was conducted by Mr. Hansen.

Diploma Courses for coaches in cycling sports started by NIS Patiala and Ist batch of 18 coaches qualified in June 1984. This being Ist course was conducted by a foreign coach Mr. Warmer Fritysche. Since then regular course at NIS Patiala are being conducted.

FOREIGN COACHES AVAILABLITY

The Government of India approved the deputation of a foreign coach and his services were made available in Feb 92. This programme did not mature hence another coach Mr. Kim Refshammer of Lenmark, an Internationally fame, was deputed in September 1982 & he imparted training in Yamuna Velodrome and road training at Delhi – Jaipur National Highway. The result of coaching became visible in the form of highly improved performance of boys by creating three New National Records in Sprint, Time Trial & Individual Pursuit events of 38 National Cycling Championships held at Yamuna Velodrome, New Delhi in Sep 1982.

The services of another USSR Coach, Mr. V. Zubernis were also made available & he imparted track & road training till September 1994. The Indian Cycling Sports received a tremendous progress & six New National Records were created in March 1993 during 47 Senior National Cycling Championships held in Delhi.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Earlier we had National Championships once in a year for all age groups but to have better talents to improve further, separate National Championships for Junior was introduced in 1967. To go a step further, separate National Championships for Sub Junior Riders was introduced in 1981. Since then all age groups started getting an opportunity to participate separate in three different National Championships which were being held regularly every year.

To be in a line of UCI, from 1995 separate National Road Cycling Championships were introduced & this bifurcation granted a chance to an affiliated unit without Velodrome. The 1 st National Road Cycling Championships for all age groups were held in May 1995 at Jabalpur (M.P) & 2 nd at Calcutta & the 3 rd at Chennai and this process continued accordingly.

The results of these National Championships being held regularly our cyclists started creating New National Records in the Track Championships. The eventwise New National Records are shown separately.

It has become quite clear now that we have enough talents in our country who can create New

National Records during the National Championships but we need much and more emphasis to be put on the training, equipments & other facilities to be provided to the National Cyclists. Beside training & better equipments, we need best technical understanding (Know How), consideration & coordination.

Cycling Equipments are not manufactured in our country hence these are imported from outside resulting financial hardships on the riders, states units & the federation.

Today we have more than 40 technically qualified persons in cycling sports & their services are always at the disposal of the Cycling Federation of India.

FUTURE CAREER OF SPORTS PERSONS

Since the introduction of reservation in jobs at centre & state level for the sports persons or cyclists have also been granted jobs in Punjab Police, Railways, BSF, Armed Forces (Army & Air Force) & other ministries of centre & state level, with an incentive of additional increments & out of turn promotions to the gold medallists.

The Government of India has also many schemes for sports persons like old age pension, lump sum grant for fatal injury during training, assistance for medical treatment, assistance to sports promoters, assistance to families of outstanding sports persons in indigent circumstances.

ARJUNA AWARD TO CYCLISTS

The following cyclists were selected by the Govt. of India and honoured with Arjuna Award for their achievements at National & International levels :-

Sh. Amar Singh

Mrs. Minati Mahapatra - Presently with Steel Plant, Rourkela.

Ms. Armin Arethna - Left India