Rowers from Andhra Pradesh, most of them from the AP Sports School (Hakimpet), made an impressive debut at the 17 Sub-junior nationals and the 18 Challenger Rowing Championship in Kolkata, winning three gold and three bronze.
“Honestly, we were hoping to perform well, bring home good results. But winning three gold is very, very satisfying and we hope these young rowers will continue to sustain the interest and dream big,” said Dronacharya Ismail Baig, India’s chief national rowing coach.
When N. Revanth and Balakrishna won the under-13 boys doubles scull gold, their joy knew no bounds.
“This is a huge inspiration for us and we want to represent India in the days to come,” the two youngsters said.
Likewise with Geetanjali and Sony, who clinched the honours in the girls under-14 double scull category.
The sub-juniors coxed fours team comprising Sk Arif, T. Sunil, A. Ganesh, L. Trinath and U. Vijay surprised quite a few critics when it won gold.
“Hours of training in the Hussainsagar under the tutelage of our coaches helped us fine-tune many rough edges. Now, our confidence level is high and we are already in the mood to keep improving,” the team said.
Interestingly, A. Ganesh and D. Sai Raj were semi-finalists in the boys coxless pairs event while sub-junior girls team comprising Lakshmi Prasanna, Seetamahalakshmi, Maneswani, Archana and Priyanka also reached the last-four stage.
The bronze medals came in the challenger fours event with Anil Siloth, Gokul Kumar, R. Sumith, Sandeep Singh (Artillery Centre and Srinath (cox) being the members.
The fact that APSS rowers took part in seven events and won three gold and two bronze should be good augury when officials chalk out plans for exposure and training trips for the young talent.
