27 Jan 2012
Indoor rowing championships for mentally handicapped
INAS-FID is the International Federation for sport for athletes with an intellectual disability.
Teams from Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Korea, Macau and Hong Kong participated in individual events over 500m and 1000m, and in a mixed 4 x 500m relay.
The men’s 500m event was won by Hong Kong’s Kwok Man Tsui in a time of 1:33.0, with Andras Szechenyi and Peter Budai of Hungary taking second and third in 1:35.1 and 1:36.8 respectively. Tsui was a member of Hong Kong’s gold medal winning LTA-ID four at the World Rowing Championships in Poznan earlier this year.
The women’s 500m event was won by Sara Pinho of Portugal in 1:43.6. Pui Man Chu of Hong Kong was second in 1:51.4 and Elisabete Santos of Portugal third in 1:57.1.
The 1000m individual event for men was again won by Tsui in 3:19.8, Budai was second in 3:24.8 and Tung Chun Szeto of Hong Kong China third in 3:26.3. The finish order in the women’s 1000m event was the same as for the 500m race with Portugal first in 3:45.2, Hong Kong second in 3:58.1 and Portugal third in 4:07.3.
The 4 x 500m mixed relay, comprising of two male and two female athletes from each team, was won by Portugal in 7:17.4. Hong Kong took the second and third places in 7:30.3 and 7:33.1 respectively.
All participants also had the opportunity to try rowing on the water during an activity afternoon organised by Hong Kong’s adaptive rowing coaches.
Dr. Bob Price, INAS-FID president was the officiating guest at the opening ceremony. He welcomed the championships as a ground-breaking new addition to the INAS-FID annual program and noted the growing popularity of indoor rowing as a sport activity for athletes with intellectual disability.
Fay Ho (chair, FISA adaptive rowing commission) and Mike Tanner (chair, FISA events commission) attended the event and advised on organisational, classification and racing issues.
Hungary has already offered to host the second edition of the championships in 2010.
Full results can be found here.
Report thanks to Chris Perry – FISA Development Consultant, Asia.