When Aishwarya Pissay won the FIM World Cup in the women’s category last week, she became the first Indian to claim a world title in motorsports. She had topped the women’s category after the final round of the Baja racing championship in Hungary.
However, the part that didn’t get highlighted as much is that she was the only woman biker who participated in all four rallies, thereby giving her the highest number of points on a technicality.
The 23-year old from Bengaluru, who is a TVS rider, won the first round of the race in Dubai where she was the only woman biker in the fray. In the next three races, she was placed third (Portugal), fifth (Spain) and fourth (Hungary) and was the last finisher in the women’s category.
Explaining the technicality, FIM spokesperson said Pissay was the only woman in the Dubai race as many other competitors were private riders and had budget constraints.
“For most riders, the FIM Bajas World Cup is a question of budget. As most of the riders are not professionals, it is not easy to compete in the whole season as they prefer to attend events in Europe. Aishwarya is part of the TVS team and that is why she was able to attend the four rounds of the World Cup. Other riders are not under contract with a team as they are private riders,” the FIM media spokesperson told The Indian Express.
After the Dubai race where she finished 26th out of 29 entrants, Pissay was 29th among 29 entrants in Portugal. In the third round in the Baja Aragon, Pissay was 24th out of 25 and fifth among the riders in the women’s class.
In the final round in Hungary, she was 13th among 14 competitors and fourth among the four women, according to a report in Overdrive.
This was Pissay’s first full season of international motorsport since suffering a serious injury in a crash Last year.
Scroll.in tried reaching Pissay but there was no response to the questions.
