A malfunctioning headlight ended national womens racing and rally champion Aishwarya Pissays campaign in Desert Storm 2018 here as she was docked a penalty of 100 hours, forcing her to retire from the week-long cross-country rally.
The 22-year-old Aishwarya, representing TVS Racing team, was among 11 bikers who retired in Monday's Leg-1 which comprised two special stages totaling about 80 Kms.
"I was running well in the day's first stage and was in good rhythm. I even overtook several bikes and was feeling very confident until the problem with the headlight cropped up in the next Stage," Aishwarya said.
"I was doing a night stage for the first time ever and it was a whole new experience for me. The headlight proved to be an issue and suddenly, it stopped working. I was caught in pitch darkness, but I followed the tail-lights of other bikes for a while. I then got stuck going up a sand dune and was left all alone.
"I managed to contact the officials who arrived after about an hour, picked me up and I got back to Bikaner safely. In view of the stoppage, I was handed a penalty of 100 hours and we decided against taking a re-start," she added.
--IANS
tri/dg
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