New Delhi, Jun 17 (IANS): A 36-member Indian cycling team and eight-member Para-cycling Team is ready to take on the challenge of the top contenders in the 41st Senior, 28th Junior Asian Track & 10th Para Track Cycling Championships starting here on Saturday.

After a big gap, India will be hoping to capitalise on the 'home track' at the Cycling Velodrome, Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, here in the event that will end on June 22.

The Indian Team couldn't participate in international competitions for the last two years due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the Indian team members participated in a training-cum-competition camp in Slovenia.

However, the team is optimistic about giving its best-ever performance not only in the sprinting events but also in the endurance event in which it will field a team led by Vishwajit Singh.

Vishwajit Singh, who has been performing extremely well in pursuit and has been breaking records at the National level, is India's future hope in the endurance events. He will also be part of the Indian team pursuit which will challenge the Asian riders.

All the eyes will be on Indian stars Esow, Ronaldo Singh, David Beckham, Vishwajeet, Trishya Paul, Mayuri Lute and Meenakshi.

The Indian juniors Aashirwad Saxena, Gurnoor Poonia, Srimathi J, Sadnya Kotake and other members of the team are also eagerly waiting to demonstrate their talents at the home ground.

Experienced Esow will be the key member of the team that is taking part in Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin events in the Senior category and will try to add medals to the overall tally. While in the women's senior category eyes will be on junior champion Mayuri Lute and Trishya Paul.

Following the withdrawal of China, Nepal and Mongolia, a total of 15 countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, and Uzbekistan.

Overall, Korea, Malaysia, Japan and Kazakhstan have the best performing riders and they have the advantage of their experience in the Continental event. These teams are continuously training and participating in competitions in Europe. This is going to be a tough competition in which all the riders will try to earn maximum points to improve their ranking.

Commenting on the Indian team for this year's event, Chief Coach VN Singh said, "We are very hopeful that the Indian team will perform its best not only in Sprinting but also in Endurance events. I hope that it will be the best-ever performance by the Indian contingent. Indian Team is rigorously training at NCOE in Delhi which is a high-performance training centre jointly run by CFI and Sports Authority of India and some team members also trained abroad."

Maninder Pal Singh, Secretary-General Cycling Federation of India said, "It is going to be one of the best-ever events organised by the Cycling Federation of India which is regularly organising international events. By going through the standards of the game, this is going to be the fiercest competition where Indians will pose a great threat to their counterparts. This event was much needed in the form of exposure of international competition to the young aspiring cyclists of the country."