The UAE set a new championship record in Algeria as the men’s team stormed to gold in the 4km team pursuit yesterday. Led by captain Yousif Mirza at the in Annaba, the four-man team knocked two seconds off the previous record by crossing the line in 4:43:094, ahead of second placed Qatar.
It’s been a hugely successful start to the track events at the Championships, building on the early success the UAE had enjoyed in the road section. The awesome foursome of Yousif Mirza, brother Badr, Ahmed Al Mansouri and Mohamed Al Mansouri finished three seconds ahead of the Qataris.
UAE team manager Abdulla Suwaidan hailed the performance of the pursuit team as an “amazing result”.
“Yousif led the team to gold in the team pursuit which was a new track record for the championships, an amazing result,” said Suwaidan.
“It really has been a very good day.”
Indeed, there was a flurry of medals for the UAE yesterday. Mirza completed an individual treble when he won gold in the individual pursuit and added to that a silver in the scratch category.
Ahmed Al Mansouri then rode to gold in the sprint and then took a bronze in the individual pursuit. Not to be outshone by their senior team-mates, the juniors were also riding high in the saddle following a five-star showing.
The highlight was a gold medal in the junior sprint for Saif Rasheed, and there were two silvers and two bronze medals too. Saeed Suwaidan finished second in a one-two for the UAE in the junior sprint behind Rasheed, and Fatma Mohamed took silver in the girls 500m sprint race.
There was a bronze in the team pursuit, while Ahmed Jassim Saif took individual bronze in the juniors’ 1km race.
Suwaidan praised the team, particularly the juniors, who he believes can go on to great things.
“They have spent more than two months training for these championships and they are now the best junior team. They are all under-16 and they have a good future.
“We’re moving forward. These results are very good for us and give us hope for the future,” he said.
Despite looking towards a rosy future, the UAE team chief believes cycling needs more support.
“UAE cycling is moving in the right direction but the support we have now is not enough, we need more. In 2015, Yousif (Mirza) could become number one in the world but we need more support.”
Suwaidan has further ambitions for medals, with six more races to come before the Championships end on Thursday.
“We are still looking for more golds and we think Yousif has a good chance for gold in the omnium and the kerin.”
Yesterday’s haul put the UAE third in medals table on 19 (eight gold, seven silver and four bronze), behind Algeria and Morocco.
