Deborah, who bagged a bronze in the Women’s team sprint category in the 37th National Games, is the only Indian female cyclist to be ranked fourth in the UCI Individual world ranking. She also has the distinction of being the first to compete at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships back in 2015.
However, this rise of Deborah was not all sunshine and rainbows, as Herold’s parents initially opposed her cycling career due to financial constraints. She trained on her father’s Hero cycle and progressively improved her abilities until the Sports Authority of India (SAI) noticed her talent in 2010.
She went on to win two gold medals in the Elite Women’s 500m time trial event and the team sprint at the 2014 Herald Track Asia Cup which was held in New Delhi, India. She again raised the bar by securing five medals for India including a Gold and a Bronze medal along with three Silver medals at the 2015 Taiwan Cup Track International Classic.
Deborah’s professional training under SAI in Delhi helped her excel in her cycling career, leading to her first National Games in Amritsar. Being a native of the Nicobar Islands, Deborah faced various communication challenges during her early participation in the Asian Games due to limited proficiency in Hindi and English. Despite this, her determination overcame language barriers.
Not giving up on her dreams she always look back to Aamir Khan’s movie “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar” as an inspiration and says “it has become my comfort movie for it being the reason why I started cycling in the first place”.
Deborah has overcome the horrific aftermaths of the destructive tsunami in 2004 when she was just nine years old and was left stranded on a tree for four days while waiting for help to arrive and for her family to find her.
Hoping to make the coming season a memorable one, Deborah fresh from her Bronze medal in the women’s team sprint at the 37th National Games, Goa now aims to take a step ahead with Paris 2024 insight and plans to start her training for the Summer Olympics.
“I’m proud that I could take a medal for my state…but I’ll make sure to work hard for the Summer Olympics next year and collect as many points as I can,” she added.
