Gurpreet makes final with improved display

By Ritesh Gupta

CHANDIGARH, DEC. 16. On a murky and cold morning, local lass Gurpreet Kaur provided a ray of hope. Thriving on the home support, the frail-built girl came up with a much-improved display to keep her medal hopes alive after emerging victorious in the repechage of the single sculls event.

The Indian women's performance, shorn of quality on the first two days of the sixth Asian junior rowing championship, rceived the much-needed thrust as Gurpreet earned a berth in Sunday's final with a decent win at the Sukhna Lake here on Saturday.

Gurpreet, the reigining National champion who had clocked nine minutes and 14.97 seconds in her heat on Thursday to finish, second, triumphed with an effort of 8:52.76. ``Comparing the best timing in the heats, (8:47.95 from Japan's Mako Ozawa), anything can happen if she improves further,'' said Dalbir Singh, chief coach of the Indian team.

Though, she was troubled by the waves in the heats, Gurpreet was out of the blocks quickly on Saturday and reached the half-way mark (one kilometre) in 4:18.96 minutes, pulling away further from her nearest rival, Korean Kim Un-Ha, in the last 250 metres, Gurpreet won comfortably by one and a half boat- length.

Apart from Gurpreet's fine improvement, India had the satisfaction of confirming two more berths in the finals. The efforts from the men's pair of G. Nagaraj and Satish Shirsat in the coxswainless pair-oars and the Andaman and Nicobar women's quartet of Purnalaxmi Rai, H. Elizabeth, Manjula Rai and Mary Monika Minz in the coxswainless four-oars were enough to help them progress further but they should stand little chance in the race for the medals.

In all, India will take part in six finals on Sunday, including the men team's participation in all the four events.

The results (repechage and qualifiers for the finals):

Men: Single sculls: Race I: 1. Roozalmy Omar (Sin) 8:13.75, 2. Zhang Haibo (Chn) 8:14.37, 3. Khudoyberda Khaydarov (Uzb) 8:55.84. Qualifier: Roozalmy Omar (Sing). Race II: 1. Kim Jeong Kwan (Kor) 8:13.34, 2. Jefrain Doludea (Ina) 8:20.46, 3.Bing Jia Hiu (Tpe) 8:21.84. Qualifier: Kim Jeong Kwan (Kor).

Double sculls: Race I: 1. Funada Kenji and Hamanaka Kohel (Jpn) 7:24.98, 2. Sun Yong Won and Kim Seon Young (Kor) 7:41.98, 3. Murad Baymuratov and Khudo Ybardi Khaydarov (Uzb) 7:43.36, Qualifier: Kenji and Kohei (Jpn). Race II: 1. Jang Guang and Tsau Veil Shiang (Tpe) 7:33.17, 2.Geng Libo and Yang Yi (Chn) 7:36.51, 3. Jefrain Doludea and Aldino Maryandi (Ina) 7:41.71. Qualifier: Guang and Vei Shaing (Tpe).

Coxswainless pair-oars: 1. Kim Dong Wan and Ka Woo Hyun (Kor) 7;29.89, 2. Andrey Esveen and Ivan Kosarev (Uzb) 7:37.02, 3. G. Nagaraj and Satish Shirsat (Ind) 7;37.52, 4. S. Man Chung and Yu Man Sheung (Hkg) 7:40.23, S. Budiman Osman and Mohammad Q. Yusuf (Sin) 8:02.92. Qualifiers: Dong wan and Woo Hyun (Kor), Esveen and Kosarev (Uzb) and Nagaran and Shirsat (Ind).

Coxswainless four-oars: 1. China (Shen Biao, Lu Ming, Liu Yake, Cheng Xianghui) 6:56.86, 2. Chinese Taipei (Gung Tai Ivan, Liou Vei Ren, Lin I Chivan, Gau Kven Cheng) 7:00.81, 3.Korea (Kim Dong Wan, Lee HOn Young, Choi Jin Ho, Ka Woo Hyun) 7:03.05, 4. Uzbekistan (Andrey Evseev, Ivan Kosarev, Sergey Bogdav, Khudoyberdi Khaydarov) 7:23.40, 5. Singapore (Budiman Osman, Mohammad Q. Yusuf, Mohammad Alhadi Osman and Faizal Ahmad) 7:40.23. Qualifiers: China, Chinese-Taipei and Korea.

Women: Single sculls: 1. Gurpreet Kaur (Ind) 8:52.76, 2. Kim Un- Ha (Kor) 8:57.81, 3. Nallya Nazarova (Uzb) 9:06.06, 4. Mak Hoi Ying (Hkg) 9:25.35, 5. Li Pei Shuang (Tpe) 9:36.88. Qualifiers: Gurpreet (Ind), Kim Un- Ha (Kor) and Nallya (Uzb).

Double sculls: Race I: 1. Lu Yin and Dong Shaoping (Chn) 8:30.84, 2. Manjula Rai and H. Elizabeth (Ind) 8:38.06, 3. Zarrina Ganiyera and Nallya Nazarova (Uzb) 8:47.79. Qualifier: Lu Yin and Dong Shaoping (Chn). Race II: 1. Saito Rena and Koyama Naoko (Jpn) 8:37.50, 2. Huang Ten and Liu chiu Fang (tpe) 9:11.85. Qualifier: Saito Rena and Koyama Naoko (Jpn).

Coxswainless pair-oars; 1. Lee Sang Mi and Lee dong II (Kor) 8:40.25, 2. Song Kai and Zhang Xiaofui (Chn) 8:42.63, 3. Lin Chiun Fang and Shiu Jing Mei (Tpe) 8:45.91, 4. Purnalaxmi Rai and Mary Monika Minz (Ind) 8:47.79. Qualifiers: Lee Sang Mi and Lee Dong II (Kor), Song Kai and Zhang Xiaofui (chn), and Lin Chiun Fang and Shiu Jing Mei (Tpe).

Coxswainless four-oars: 1. Uzbekistan (Albina Ahmerova, Zarrina Ganiyeva, Anna Kuznetsova and Zarifa Sisinbaeva) 7:36.80, 2. Korean (Shun Kee Kyun, Lim Jin Seon, Lee Sang Mi and Lee Dong II) 7:40.60, 3. India (Purnalaxmi Rai, H. Elizabeth, Manjula Rai, Mary Monika Minz) 8:13.17, 4. Chinese Taipei (Ju Jia Chen Li, Shen Bai and Lin Man Lin) 8:13.80. Qualifiers: Uzbekistan, Korea and India.

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