2016 Olympics: Mirza retires, Aysha set to make Games debut today

Cyclists during the men's road race in the Rio Olympic Games.

Top Asian road race cyclist Yousif Mirza who was doing reasonably well in the fourth pack, a minute and a half adrift in the first 30km, was involved in a pile-up with nearly six other riders, in the opening event of the cycling programme on Saturday morning in Rio.
Several crashes and mechanicals happened over the circuit's rough cobbled section. Water bottles flew from the cages off the riders' bikes over the bumpy terrain, while strong teams Turkey and Belarus had riders go down. Others were pushed off the cobbles onto the sandy dirt at the side of the road. The six-man breakaway which established as the constant lead pack held a five-minute gap over the last trailing bunch in the loop around the Grumari Natural Park circuit midway through the race.
Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) won gold in the men's road race with Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) coming in silver spot and Rafal Majka (Poland) the bronze as another crash among the second pack of chasers marred the final descent.
Mirza's mishap took place 90 minutes after the start of the race and had to retire in a race that took the winner six hours 10 minutes and 05 second to complete.
Vitor Carvalho, the coach of the UAE National Cycling Team, said: "Mirza was unlucky to leave the race but was lucky with no injuries, after 90 minutes from the start. He attempted hard to comeback but it was too late."
"However, Mirza has benefited greatly from his participation in Rio. The valuable experience gained in his debut in this great event will make him a better rider."
Aysha Al Balushi will make her debut in the Olympics in the under 58kg weightlifting contest on Monday. Also, on the third day, the judoka Viktor Schortov will face Ziad Mattar from Yemen in the under 73kg contest in round 32. The final rounds of the classification are also scheduled for a late night (Rio time which is seven hours behind the UAE) finish. Toma Sergio has a appointment with German Stephan Marc in the under 81kg competition in round 32.
"The three judokas are all in trim condition to take on the world's best fighters who have all managed to be attend the Games this time. The Brazilians too are very strong as martial arts is a traditional sporting activity in the country," said Nasser Al Tamimi, secretary general of the UAE Wrestling, Judo & Kick Boxing Federation.
Meanwhile in the Asian ranking lists released on Sunday morning saw the UAE's Olympic shooting squad move higher. Skeet shooter Saif bin Futais topped list while Khaled Al Kaabi, the double trap specialist, moved to the second berth in his classification.
Futais sits on 1,386 points and five time Olympian Shaikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum (skeet) lies seventh with 362 points. Another Emirati skeet shooter Mohammed Ahmed who is not part of the three-man team in Rio, is in eighth place with 337 points.
moni@khaleejtimes.com