Asian Games: India wins historic bronze after 29 years in Canoe sprint

Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam clinched a historic bronze medal after 29 years in the men's canoe double 1000m event at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday.

The Indian duo finished at the third place with a timing of 3:53.329 seconds winning India's only second medal in the event in the entire Asian Games history.

The Indian duo started the race brilliantly and were leading the race after the 250m but the Uzbekistani duo moved ahead at the 500m mark and kept their lead to win the gold medal.

Earlier in 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, the duo of Johnny Rommel and Siji Kumar Sadanandan had won bronze in the same event.

Uzbekistan's Shokhmurod Kholmuradov and Nurislom Tukhtasin Ugli won the gold clocking 3:43.796s, while Kazakhstan pair of Timofey Yemelyanov and Sergey Yemelyanov bagged the silver with a timing of 3:49.991s.

In canoeing, athletes use a paddle with a single blade to propel the boat forward. The boat can be either a canoe (where athletes kneel and paddle) or a kayak (where athletes sit and paddle with a double-bladed paddle).

On the ninth day, the Canoe-Kayaking contingent endured a disappointing day as despite making to four finals, there was no podium finish. The most disappointing result of the day was Niraj Verma finishing seventh in the men's single canoe 1000m with a timing of 4:36.314s.

India has won a total of 61 medals at the ongoing Asian Games with 13 gold, 24 silver and 24 bronze medals.