City girl Jasmeek Kaur Sekhon is the only woman in the subcontinent to be selected as part of the eight-member women’s international cycling team from Asia.
A student of Khalsa College for Women, 18-year-old Sekhon is the only girl from the subcontinent to get selected in the Astana Dewi Women’s Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) team, aimed at serving as a catalyst for the advancement of women’s cycling in the continent.
This is the first-ever women’s team of eight riders from Asia and is an expansion of Astana Qazaqstan, a long-term team in men’s cycling.
“Being a part of this development team based in France is a huge opportunity and dream of every enduring cyclist as this will provide me with a great exposure and will help me upgrade myself as a cyclist. I want to become an asset for the team,” Sekhon said.
The team at present is in Turkey where they are being trained for upcoming races in Spain, Uzbekistan, Belgium, Kazakhstan and many other countries. Talking about her career aspirations, she said that she wants to join the police force and will keep cycling as long as she can.
Gladly sharing his daughter’s achievements, Baljeet Sekhon, her father, said that besides being selected for the world tour, she also represented India at the Asian Championship in 2022 where she grabbed a silver.
“She started off as a tennis player and is a skater too. Around 3 years back, taking inspiration from her brother who is himself an international rider, she started her journey as a cyclist,” he added.
Sekhon competed for the first time at the Sub-Junior Cycling Championship in 2021 where she secured the third place. She also won a gold medal in the same year at the National Track Cycling Championship in Jaipur.
Sekhon is mostly trained by her elder brother Harshveer, who represented India at the Asian Games in 2014, 2018 and 2022. He will be racing in the Race Across America this year.
Sekhon is an alumna of DAV Public School and has made her alma mater proud with her achievement.
“Her achievements fill our hearts with pride and joy. We wish her the best for her future endeavours,” school principal J K Sidhu said.
Credit: Source link