Rowing
Rowing Nationals: Services eke out Army in the men's category
Services came out at the top in the men's category while Madhya Pradesh dominated women's category at the Rowing Nationals.
Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) eked out tough competition from the Army Sports Control Board (ASCB) to win the top prize in the men's category of the Senior National Rowing Championship on Thursday.
Services ended with 4 gold and 3 silver as against 3 gold and 4 silver by Army. Chandigarh claimed the lone title among state associations.
In the women's section, Madhya Pradesh (4 gold, 1 silver) claimed the top spot while Kerala (2 gold), and Manipur (1 gold, 1 silver) finished behind in the seven-race schedule.
The men's section was exciting, with the first two finals going the Services and Army's way respectively.
In the double sculls event Services' Kulwinder Singh and Karamjit Singh -- 6 minutes 48.9 seconds -- pushed aside the Army duo of Gurtap Singh and Ravi (6:55.2).
Army struck back, with Babulal Yadav and Lekh Ram edging out Services' Sanee Kumar and Iqbal Singh.
The next two races belonged to Services. The coxless fours had Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, and Ashish (06:27.3) getting the better of Army's Lakhveer Singh Harinder Singh, Ghurde Patil, Jasmail Singh (06:29.5).
The next race also went the Services way and took their tally to three as against one by the Army. Services claimed their third when the lightweight double sculls duo of Nitin Deol and Ujjwal Kumar Singh (06:48.7) finished ahead of Army's Arwinder Singh and Rohit (06:51.2).
Army claimed their second title of the day by bagging the quadruple sculls. Ravi, Jaspinder Singh, Gurpartap Singh, and Manjeet Kumar combined to clock 06:19.3, which was better than the 06:21.2 clocked by the Services quartet of Ashish Phugat, Jakar Khan, Karamjit Singh, and Kulwinder Singh.
The women's section saw Madhya Pradesh dominating and Maharashtra failing to make an impact with single sculler Khushpreet Kaur of MP (08:42.4) emerging stronger than Mrunmayee Salgaonkar (08:48.7).
Madhya Pradesh also claimed the quadruple sculls, coxless pairs, the double sculls apart from the single sculls.
(With PTI Inputs)
