Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh on Sunday produced the best-ever Olympic performance by Indian rowers as they cruised into the men’s lightweight double sculls semifinals at the Tokyo Games.
The Indian duo clocked 6:51.36 to finish third in the repechage round at the Sea Forest Waterway.
“We followed exactly whatever had been told to us by our coach. The coach told us that we should try to get the best position for India,” the duo said.
“It’s (rowing) not a very popular sport in India. So our coach told us that getting to the semifinals is also a big motivation for us, and we had to do our best.”
While Arjun assumes the role of the bower, Arvind is the team’s stroker. The two had finished fifth in their heats on Saturday.
“Arvind and Arjun are now among the 12 semifinalists. It can be difficult to win a medal but they will be competing in the semifinals. There will be two semifinal races of six boats each and top three from each semifinals will reach the final,” Rowing Federation of India president Rajlaxmi Singh Deo said.
The event includes two rowers in a scull boat using two oars each. The long, narrow and broadly semi-circular in cross-section boats helps to reduce the drag.
The maximum weight set for each male competitor is 72.5kg and the average weight cannot exceed 70 kg.
The semifinals will be held on July 27.
Nayak fails to qualify
India’s lone gymnast at Tokyo Olympics, Pranati Nayak failed to qualify for the All Round finals of Artistic Gymnastics competition.
The 26-year-old from West Bengal recorded a total score of 42.565 over the four categories — floor exercise, vault, uneven bars and balance beam — at the Ariake Gymnastic centre. She is now ranked at 29th overall at the end of subdivision 2.
There are a total of five subdivisions, from which top 24 gymnasts (best score across all four apparatus) qualify to the All-Around final, which will be held on July 29.
The top eight gymnasts in each event qualify for the respective individual event finals to be held from August 1 to 3.
However, Nayak finished at the bottom half in all the events.
Sailors Nethra at 27th, Vishnu 14th
Nethra Kumanan was placed 27th after two races while Vishnu Saravanan was at 14th after his first race as the Indian sailors opened their campaign in Enoshima.