China the best at Asian Rowing Championships

The biggest delegation came from the host country, China who fielded crews in all of the events, including many gold medalists from the recent Chinese National Games, as well as 2008 Olympic gold medalists Yangyang Zhang, Bin Tang and Ziwei Jin.

While China dominated the Championships, taking 13 of the 16 gold medals offered, there was close racing in many events and 12 countries shared in the overall medal tally.

Ka Man Lee of Hong Kong took gold in the lightweight women’s single sculls ahead of Guoru Liang of China and Alexandra Opachanova of Kazakhstan. Lee also won a silver medal in the open single behind Chinese National Games winner Tang. Hong Kong crews topped off a successful regatta with a total of six medals to place second behind their Mainland counterparts in the overall medal table.

India showed strong form with London Olympian Sawarn Singh overhauling Iran’s former Under-23 Champion, Mohsen Naghadeh Shadi in the final 200 meters of the race to win the men’s single sculls. India also challenged China in the final of the men’s eight finishing just over a second behind them to take the silver medal ahead of Indonesia. Indian crews also won medals in the men’s four, lightweight men’s double sculls and lightweight women’s quadruple sculls.

Iran made up for their loss in the men’s single by winning gold in the lightweight men’s single with Aghel Habibian. In a closely fought race, where the lead changed several times, Habiban moved to the front at the halfway point and kept the advantage, crossing the line ahead of Hong Kong’s Wai Kin Wong and Sergey Tyan of Uzbekistan. Iran’s women also produced a strong showing in the lightweight women’s quad placing second behind China and ahead of India to complete a total tally of three medals for their country.

Among the crews from South East Asia, Indonesia was the strongest overall winning silver medals in the lightweight women’s double and lightweight men’s four as well as a bronze in the men’s eight. The South East Asian Games will be hosted in Myanmar later in the year and the Asian Rowing Championships provided an excellent opportunity for crews from this region to test their form. Thailand and Myanmar also picked up medals.

From Central Asia, Kazakhstan had a strong showing in the women’s events winning medals in the women’s quad, women’s double, women’s single, lightweight women’s single and women’s pair.

One of the fastest races in the Championships came in the final of the men’s quad. China’s National Games winners went out fast but were pursued by Hong Kong’s 2013 World Championship finalists in the lightweight quad as well as India and Uzbekistan. At the halfway point, the powerful Chinese crew had moved into a clear lead with Hong Kong second and India third. A determined push by Uzbekistan over the last 750 meters however saw them overhaul both India and Hong Kong to take silver in 5:57. China was first in 5:55 and Hong Kong third in 5:58.

Other countries featuring on the medals table were Iraq, who won a silver medal in the men’s double, DPR Korea, Myanmar and Chinese Taipei. Full results can be found at the Asian Rowing Federation website: arfrowing.org.

Asian crews will now turn their attention to preparations for the 2014 Asian Games which will be hosted in Incheon, South Korea.