India rises, China rules at Asian Rowing Championships

Rowing once again this year looked to Asia as Hyderabad, India hosted the 11th Asian Rowing Championships last week. Following the success of rowing at China’s national games, the 43-strong Chinese squad controlled the Asian Champs by winning 12 of the seventeen events.

Host country, India finished second on the medals table with four golds and Kazakhstan prevented a Chinese-Indian sweep by winning the last event of the four day regatta, the women’s four.

India’s gold medal winning was led by the lightweight men’s four on the first day of finals and marked the first gold for India at an international event in 16 years. The four are part of the army and said that their win was a career-best time and is a big step towards their preparation for next year’s Asian Rowing Championships. India’s four gold medals bettered expectations according to head coach Colin Barratt (a former British World Champion).

Barratt told the Hindu newspaper, "I am new to the Asian level of rowing. But, for my part, I am pleased with the way the boys are adjusting to the West European technique of rowing which is totally different from the way they trained.?

Indian rowing was further boosted by the announcement by Chief Minister Dr. Rajasekhar Reddy of the setting up of a Rowing Academy with the help of the State Government.

Over 200 rowers raced at the Asian Rowing Championships which were held on the Hussain Sagar Lake. The youngest competitor was India’s Swati Sanjay, 17, who is already a veteran of three international events including competing earlier this season at the World Rowing Junior Championships.

This is the first time an international regatta has taken place in India and the first time a six laned buoyed course has been constructed. President of the Indian Rowing Federation K.P. Singh Deo said the event was used by India to serve as a base for the selection of next year’s World Cup team ? another step in the growth on Indian rowing.

Participating countries included; China, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and India.

Next year the championships will move to Qatar.

Final Results
Men’s pair (M2-): 1. China 6.37.32 (Sun Jian, Wang Xiang Dang), 2. India, (Gyanendra Khushawah, Haridev Kadyan) 6.47.25, 3. Indonesia 6.52.16.

Lightweight men’s single (LM1x): 1. China, Zhu Zhi Fu 7.02.38, 2. Thailand, Theppibal Ruthanaphol 7.14.08, 3. India, Bajrang Lal Tarkhar 7.18.28.

Women’s pair (W2-): 1. China, (Chunhua Hu & Song Wei) 7.29.81, 2. Kazhakhstan, (Svetlana Germandvich & Idna Dudchenko) 7.32.06, 3. Korea, 7.37.12.

Lightweight men’s four (LM4-): 1. India, (Saji Thomas, Pradeep Balyan, Darmesh Sangwan, Satish Joshi) 6.13.68, 2. Indonesia, (Rodiaman Rodiaman, Ramdan Deni Prakasa, Ketut Sukasna, Aldino Maryandi) 6.19.68, 3. Philippines 6.23.07.

Men’s double (M2x): 1. China, (Yi He & Bo ZhenWang) 6.29.40, 2. Korea, (Hwon Su Lee & Do Jong Park) 6.30.55, 3. India, (Sunil Kumar, Bajrang Lal Thakar) 6.32.09.

Lightweight men’s quad (LM4x): 1. India, (Saji Thomas, Rateesh Balyan, Bajrang Thakar, Kudrat Ali) 6.10.69, 2. Kazhakhstan, (Ivan Kharitanov, Issllpov Artydm, Andrey Churkin, Ryabikov Konstantin) 6.15.41, 3. Thailand, (Thainjam Anupong, Pichet Trisittinappakun, Choetchai Saenwong, Ruthanaphol Theppibal).

Men’s eight (M8+): 1. China (Dong Wefang, Guo Ziaobing, Zhang Guangheng, Qu Tianxing, Ren Xiao Ze, Liu Hau, Zhau Yu, Liu Jing Jian) 5.48.11, 2. India, (Kadyan Haridev, Gyanender Kushawah, Thomas Jestin Joy, Raj Kumar, Sukjith Singh, Baldev Kalyan, Augustine Manoj, Gurdarshan Sandhu) 5.53.19, 3. Kazhakhstan 5.57.82.

Lightweight women’s single (LW1x): 1.China, Xiang Dong Xu 7.40.50, 2. Thailand, Phuttharaksa Nikree 7.49.82, 3. Uzbekistan, Pere Karoba 7.54.60.

Lightweight men’s double (LM2x): 1. China, (Fu Zhi Zhu & Jun Xie) 6.33.78, 2. Uzbekistan, (Sergey Bogdanov & Ruslan Naurzaliyev), 3. Thailand, (Ruthnaphol Theippibal & Anupong Thainjam).

Lightweight men’s pair (LM2-): 1. China, (Xui Ning de & Zhang Lin) 6.44.76, 2. India, (Narayan Rathore & Praveen Kumar Dhull), 3. Kazhakhstan, (Alexander Tremasov & Stankd Ivan).

Men’s four (M4-): 1. China (Yu Xing Tian, Guo Bing Xiao, Zhang Heng Guang, Dong Feng Wen) 6.14.54, 2. Uzbekistan, (Shakhsuvaryan Yuriy, Silayev Vitalay, Astashov Roman, Tyan Sergey), 3. India, (Sukhjit Singh, Baldev Kalyan, Manoj Augustine, Gurdarshan Sandhu).

Men’s single (M1x): 1. China, Hui Yong Cui 2. Iraq, Haider Rashed Hama, 3. India, Sunil Kumar.

Lightweight men’s eight (LM8+): 1. India, (Sunil Kakde, Balyan Ratheesh Devi, Praveen Dhull, Saji Thomas, Narayan Rathore, Pradeep Balyan, Darmesh Sangwan, Satish Joshi, Rakh Balu), 5.57.95, 2. Kazakhstan 6.12.29.

Women’s single (W1x): 1. China, Xi Ai Hua 7.49.74, 2. Japan, Fukuchi Ai, 3. Taiwan, Ju Chien Chiang.

Lightweight women’s fours (LW4-): 1. India, (Sanjay Swathi, P.R. Raji, Julee Verghese, Pravasini Dwivedi) 7.35.18, 2. Taiwan, (Ni Cheng Chang, Hsin Wu Liu, Chen Ming Liu, Chun Yi Lin).

Lightweight women’s double (LW2x): 1. China, (Xiang Dong Xu & Na Ai Chen) 7.15.94, 2. Thailand, (Phuttharaksa, Bussaymas Phaengkathok), 3. Uzbekistan, (Sevara Ganieva & Zarrina Ganieva).

Women’s four (W4-): 1. Kazakhstan 7.05.26, 2. Korea, 3. India

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