The Hindu : Sport / Sailing : India bags double sculls bronze

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Thursday, Dec 07, 2006
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India bags double sculls bronze

Special Correspondent

DOHA: Kiran Yalamanchi and Bijender Singh won the men's lightweight double sculls bronze medal in rowing in the 15th Asian Games at the West Bay Lagoon here on Wednesday.

The Hyderabad duo, competing together for the first time, pulled hard in the second 500 metres, but couldn't keep pace with Japan and Thailand. The effort of 3 minutes 26.01 was, however, good enough to stay ahead of Kazakhstan in the four-team final.

At the half way mark, the Indians were second behind Japan, half a second ahead of Kazakhstan and a full second past Thailand. The Thais, however, were spectacular and clocked the best timing in the second half to take the silver 0.63 seconds behind the Japanese pair.

"It feels great. It was a tough race and we are thrilled to win our first international medal," said the 20-year-old Kiran, quite proud about helping India win a medal in the sculls event after a gap of 16 years.

Coach Ismail Baig said that winning a medal in sculls was like winning the gold itself for him.

"The 1000-metre race calls for a different strategy and it is possibly suiting us," said Baig as he pointed out that a top team like China was struggling to adjust from the standard 2000-metre Olympic pattern and was facing defeat in many races.

In the men's double sculls event, Anil Kumar and Bajrang Lal finished fourth behind Uzbekistan, Korea and China.

"I had more hopes on this team. Reaching the final ahead of Japan in a 16-team competition has been great. We will do better tomorrow," said the coach, hoping that India would better its performance of a solitary bronze medal in the last edition at Busan.

In fact, India has won 10 medals in rowing in the Asian Games, and all of them have been bronze.

The results: Men's lightweight double sculls: 1. Takahiro Suda and Hideki Omoto (Jpn) 3:19.29; 2. Ruthatanaphol Thepibal and Anupong Thainjam (Tha) 3:19.92; 3. Kiran Yalamanchi and Bijender Singh 3:26.01.

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