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Neggi bags first gold for India

By Our Sports Reporter

Indian canoeing and kayaking team members lift their chief coach after winning their second gold medal at the Asian canoeing and kayaking championship in Bhopal on Thursday.

BHOPAL OCT. 2. Nayab Subedar D.V.S. Neggi delivered India's first kayaking gold medal by winning the K-1 1,000-metre race in the Asian Junior canoeing and kayaking championship at the Upper Lake here on Thursday.

In the field shorn of China, the 17-year-old Neggi fought off a stiff challenge from Iran's Tahmasebi Houtan and won the race in 4 minutes 12.33 seconds. Houtan (4:18.52) nudged ahead of Omura Masumi (4:20.30) of Japan.

"I am elated with my performance and this win will inspire me to do much better in future,'' Neggi said after his race.

Neggi has come a long way since winning bronze medal in the 2002 Asian championship in Teheran (Iran). "We get only two months of National camp to practice with the foreign coach. Rest of the year we are at ourselves,'' said Neggi, who rated his semifinal appearance in the Japan World Junior championship early this year, as the best before this gold came his way.

The gold medal won by Neggi somewhat forced Indian coach, Hungarian Gyongyosi Janos, to eat his words. "He's (Neggi) done good though more hard work is needed if India aspires to win medals on the international stage,'' Janos said.

Riding on the boost provided by Neggi, India further won two each silver medals in canoeing and two bronze medals in kayaking, in the junior section.

Japan led the Junior medals tally winning five gold and two bronze medals. India was second with one gold, two silver and bronze medals each, and was followed by China (1-0-0), Iran (0-5-0) and Chinese Taipei (0-0-3).

Wang Lin, Ling Weizhen rewrite record

In the Asian senior championship, a new continental record was re-written by Chinese women. Wang Lin and Ling Weizhen cruised to the finish-line in 3 minutes 56.94 seconds to win the K-2 class through 1,000 metres. Their effort bettered the old record (4:04.19), also in the name of Chinese pair of Li Na Fan and Xhimin Liu, who set it in the 1999 Asian championship.

China dominated the senior section winning four gold, one silver and bronze medals each. Iran placed itself in the second position with two gold and a bronze medal.

India's poor show in the senior section was apparent. With China and Iran in the fray, Indians hardly had any chance.

The only silver-lining came through the bronze medal won by Indian duo of Daleep Beniwal and Ajit Kumar G., in the C-2 1000m canoeing race.

Beniwal and Ajit Kumar completed the race in 4 minutes 13.53 seconds, just 0.07 seconds ahead of the Japanese team. Indonesian pair of Roinadi and Asnawir won the gold medal in 4:06.38 and pushed Chinese tandem of Wang Liang and Fan Jiwen (4:09.73) to the silver position.

The Iranian twosome of Mohammadi Alireza and Baabak Samary were a kayak ahead of Japanese pair in winning the K-2 class over 1000 metres.

"I am happy and feeling very good after the win, but we could have had much better timings than this,'' Baabak said. "The boats here are heavier and not up to the standards of an international competition,'' he said.

"We (Iran) are strong in K-4 class but the kind of boats given to us are really bad,'' said Baabak, the double gold medallist. Baabak (3:56.62) also won the K-1 1,000m gold beating Indonesia's Sayadin and China's Liu Pei Liang.

The results (finals):

Kayaking: Men: K-1 1,000m: 1. Baabak Samary (Irn) 3:56.62; 2. Sayadin (Ina) 3:58.59; 3. Liu Pei Liang (Chn) 4:01.12... 5. P. K. Baroi (Ind) 4:12.83.

K-2 1,000m: 1. Iran (Mohammadi Alireza, Baabak Samary) 3:45.76; 2. Japan (Hokudou Suzuki, Akiyama Haruhiko) 3:48.59; 3. Indonesia (Diono, Kuat) 3:49.89... 5. India (P. Thomas, Madhu P. S.) 3:58.34.

K-4 1,000m: 1. China (Hu Shenggui, Zhong Xi Jun, Zhao Xu, Han Lei) 3:14.69; 2. Indonesia (Hadi Laode, Sayadin, Diono, Kuat) 3:17.87; 3. Japan (Hokudou Suzuki, Haruhiko Akiyama, Takamitsu Noda, Keigo Kobayashai) 3:20.43... 5. India (P. K. Baroi, Karma Topo, Ashok Malik, A. Machariya) 3:31.35.

Junior men: K-1 1,000m: 1. D. V. S. Neggi (Ind) 4:12.23; 2. Tahmasebi Houtan (Irn) 4:18.52; 3. Omura Masumi (Jpn) 4:20.30.

K-2 1,000m: 1. Japan (Matsushita Momotaro) 3:51.67; 2. Iran (Tahmasebi Houtan, Siavash Sobhan) 3:56.60; 3. India (Shanty Swaroop, A. Yendapha) 4:00.00.

K-4 1,000m: 1. Japan (Sato Daisuke, Yusa Takayuki, Iwanaga Masayuki, Mizuguchi Kazuhiko) 3:24.93; 2. Iran (Tahmasebi Houtan, Moradlou Milad, Siavash Sobhan, Shakeri Alireza) 3:30.20; 3. India (D.V.S. Neggi, Lalit Kumar Singh, Surendra Beniwal, N. Sanjay Singh) 3:36.03.

Women: K-1 1,000m: 1. Shang Xiaolin (Chn) 4:33.66; 2. Tsujiko Sayaka (Jpn) 4:39.44; 3. Aronggear Sarce (Ina) 4:44.38... 5 Neeteshwary (Ind) 5:15.76.

K-2 1,000m: 1. China (Ling Weizhen, Wang Lin) 3:56.94; 2. Indonesia (Aronggear Sarce, Suhartati) 4:01.51; 3. Japan (Okamoto Satoko, Takemura Midori) 4:17.81... 6. India (Smita Aziz, Kochumol Mathuo) 4:30.59.

Junior women: K-1 1,000m: 1. Hamono Saki (Jpn) 4:35.89; 2. Kharazmi Elaheh (Irn) 5:00.18; 3. Lin Ya Ping (Tpe) 5:10.38; 4. Simi Mol (Ind) 5:45.89.

K-2 1,000m: 1. Japan (Imamura Yumi, Yoshitake Narumi) 4:27.85; 2. Iran (Kharazmi Elaheh, Tabari Elma) 4:28.47; 3. Chinese Taipei (Tasi Yu-Wen, Lin Ya-Ping) 4:42.72; 4. India (Simi Mol, Joemol S.) 5:35.81.

Canoeing: Men: C-1 1,000m: 1. Chen Zhong Yun (Chn) 4:15.69; 2. Tanoue Yasuhiro (Jpn) 4:35.33; 3. Ahmadi Sirvan (Irn) 4:37.39; 4. Hemlung Pow (Ind) 4:38.54.

C-2 1,000m: 1. Indonesia (Roinadi, Asnawir) 4:06.38; 2. China (Wang Liang, Fan Jiwen) 4:09.73; 3. India (Daleep Beniwal, Ajit Kumar G.) 4:13.53.

Junior men: C-1 1,000m: 1. Chen Zhijiang (Chn) 4:40.16; 2. Amutom Bi (Ind) 4:44.16; 3. Nishi Yasuhiro (Jpn) 5:02.81.

C-2 1,000m: 1. Japan (Nagashima Keisuke, Ono Yuki) 4:21.49; 2. India (Manoj Kumar R., Karan Singh) 4:26.78; 3. Chinese Taipei (Lu Fang-Hsien, Chou En Ping) 4:52.13.

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