38th National Games: Footballer-turned-cyclist David Beckham of Andaman & Nicobar wins gold

The 21-year-old Elkatohchoongo clocked a time of 10.691 seconds to win the gold while Laitonjam Ronaldo Singh of Manipur and another Andaman and Nicobar Islands cyclist Esow Alben took the silver and bronze respectively

Rudrapur: Andaman and Nicobar Islands cyclist David Beckham Elkatohchoongo, whose last name saved him from denying entry in the United Kingdom for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, on Tuesday won gold in the men’s elite sprint event at the National Games here.

The 21-year-old Elkatohchoongo clocked a time of 10.691 seconds in two laps to win the gold while Laitonjam Ronaldo Singh (10.724 seconds) of Manipur and another Andaman and Nicobar Islands cyclist Esow Alben (10.826 seconds) took the silver and bronze respectively.

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It was a tough fight among the three best cyclists of the country competing at the brand new Shivalik Velodrome here, with Elkatohchoongo emerging on top ultimately.

When Elkatohchoongo landed in the UK for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the British immigration officers were stumped when he told them his name. They asked him if David Beckham was his real name.

After double checking of his passport, he was allowed entry by the immigration officers. Elkatohchoongo’s name was given by his father who was a ‘street footballer’ and a fan of charismatic English football great and former captain David Beckham.

Elkatohchoongo’s first love was also football but later shifted to cycling which is quite popular in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which has produced the likes of Deborah Herold, the first Indian cyclist to win a medal in Asian Senior Championships and world number four at one time.

Elkatohchoongo was the best Indian cyclist at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, reaching the quarterfinals. He and 22-year-old Ronaldo’s presence in the Indian cycling team for the Hangzhou Asian Games created a lot of buzz in the foreign media because of their names.

Ronaldo was given his name by his father as he was born during the 2002 World Cup which Brazil won with Ronaldinho playing a big role in the triumph. Ronaldo is a sprint silver medallist at the 2022 Asian Championships.

Esow Alben was the first Indian cyclist to win an individual medal at the global level, a silver in keirin event at the 2018 junior track world championships. He won a silver in sprint and a bronze in keirin in the 2019 edition also.

Esow and Ronaldo were also part of the quartet that won the team sprint gold in the 2019 junior track world championships. In other events of the day, Karnataka’s Keerthi Rangaswamy won the gold medal in the women’s elite scratch 10km race. Assam’s Chayanika Gogoi clinched the silver medal, while Meenakshi from Haryana bagged the bronze.

In the men’s elite scratch race (15km), Services Sahil Kumar won the gold medal. Kerala’s Adwaith Sankar and Krishna Nayakodi, also of Services, clinched the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Maharashtra’s Shweta Balu Gunjal bagged the gold medal in the women’s elite Sprint with a timing of 12.745 seconds. Andaman and Nicoba’s Celestina (12.848 seconds) secured the second place while Triyasha Paul of Delhi clocked 12.799 seconds to bag the bronze medal.