Disappointing day for India in canoeing
India continued their disappointing run in canoeing at the Asian Games here on Friday, with their paddlers failing to make the podium and falling short of their medal-winning performance at the Hangzhou edition.
The men’s kayak four qualified for the Final A but finished seventh, while the men’s kayak double settled for third in Final B and the women’s canoe double failed to qualify for the final.
India will sign off from the canoeing competition at the Miyoshi Lake here with two more events on Saturday, but both will offer “limited medal opportunities”.
India had won a bronze in the men’s canoe double 1000m at the Hangzhou Asian Games, with Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh finishing third.
However, that event has been scrapped from the programme for the current Asian Games, which proved to be a big setback for India, National canoe coach Shanti Swaroop told PTI.
“It’s been a disappointing outing so far but we are giving our best and gradually improving. We are happy our show in men’s kayak four 500m team and can also look up to two more events on the final day on Saturday but chances are limited,” Swaroop said.
The men’s kayak double 500m pair of Prohit Baroi and Prasanna Kumar Chempadiyil Sathyaprakash finished fifth in semifinal 1 with a timing of 1:40.308, 2.623 seconds adrift the leading Indonesian pair.
They progressed to Final B, a classification race for crews that do not qualify for the medal final, where they finished third among four pairs in 1:40.411, 2.644 seconds behind the Indonesian winners.
In the women’s canoe double 500m, Megha Pradeep and Neha Devi Leichonbam finished fourth among five pairs in semifinal 1 with a timing of 2:08.306, 1.966 seconds behind the leading Iranian pair. They did not qualify for the final.
The women’s kayak four 500m quartet of Dhanamanjuri Devi Khwairakpam, Pooja, Soniya Devi Phairembam and Parvathy Geetha finished eighth and last in Final A, clocking 1:45.670.
They were more than 11 seconds behind the gold medal-winning Chinese team.
India’s biggest medal hope was the men’s kayak four 500m team of Laitonjam Naocha Singh, Varinder Singh, Oinam Arun Singh and Harshwardhan Singh Shaktawat.
The quartet finished seventh in the nine-boat Final A with a timing of 1:28.982, 6.395 seconds behind the gold medal-winning South Korean team on Thursday.
Canoeing is a water sport in which athletes race boats using paddles. Kayaks are paddled with a double-bladed paddle, while canoes are generally raced with a single-bladed paddle; events can feature singles, doubles or larger teams over different distances.
