WITH the top 20 rowers in the country attending a National camp at Pune, the senior National sprint rowing meet was understandably a low key affair. But as Jasbir Singh Gill, coach of the Services Sports Control Board, said, "The top rowers are aware that a second rung is not far behind and they cannot be complacent." Jasbir was also happy that the sub-junior meet, held concurrently, showed that there was enough young talent and with proper grooming and training the progression to the senior level should be smooth and sound.
The tournament had over 350 entries in the two categories. The men's fixtures were divided into two sections - the open and the challenger series. The two Army outfits, Services Sports Control Board and Corps of Engineers Rowing Association, dominated these events though there was some opposition from the State teams.
Karnataka's L. Suresh, a silver medallist at the Chandigarh Asian tournament, was tipped to upset Services' Ratheesh Kumar in the Open men's single sculls event. However, that turned out to be just a false hope as Ratheesh paddled his way to a fluent win, having a leeway of more than five seconds at the finish.
In the challenger section, SSCB's K. Manu recorded a fine double, winning the single sculls and later, partnering Pramod Kumar, bagging the coxless pairs event. Services tasted defeat in the double sculls event losing to the West Bengal rowers Shashi Kumar Singh and Sumanta Roy Choudry in a neck and neck affair. WBRA's duo clocked 1.41.55 while the SSCB pair of Udhayabir Singh and Sachin Kumar was less than a second behind at 1.42.53.
Kerala had a stranglehold in the women's events. Top rower Jincymol Verghese was way ahead in the single sculls event with opponents Gayathri (second) and Supriya fighting for the minor placings. Jincymol and Soniamma powered their way to victory in the double sculls event and the coxless pair of Julee Verghese and Sobini added a third gold for the Kerala team.
Andaman & Nicobar's upcoming team prevented a sweep, bagging the coxless fours in style. The team showed fine coordination and rhythm and was never seriously threatened by the more fancied Kerala team which had to settle for second spot.
The Tamil Nadu Amateur Rowing Association made a strong impact in the sub-juniors section. The Tamil Nadu girls swept all four events in the championship with Sneha Venkataraman winning the single sculls and combining with Swathy Sanjay to clinch the double sculls events. R. Swetha and Bandana Narula took the first gold of the meet, winning the coxless pairs and the duo pitched in along with Swathy Sanjay, V. R. Sangamitra and Preethi Behlah to win the coxed fours. It was a clean sweep for the powerful Tamil Nadu team. Apparently the sport is attracting interest with Kodaikanal and Udhagamandalam lakes also starting rowing associations. The Boat Club at Adyar continues to be the centrepoint for the sport.
If the Tamil Nadu girls excelled in the sub-juniors' section, it was Karnataka which dominated the boys' events. Abhinandan pocketed a double, winning the single sculls and pairing with K. Srinivasan to win the double sculls. Srinivasan and Mithun then paired to win the coxless pairs but Tamil Nadu's P. S. Rahul, R. Rohit, R. Sriram, Romith Rao and Kiran Kurian snatched the coxed fours to deny Karnataka a clean sweep.
The results:Men's open single sculls: 1. Rateesh Kumar (SSCB) 1.40.12, 2. Suresh (KARA), 3. Nardev Singh (CRA).
Double sculls: 1. Binoy Lukose & Bhaskar Reddy (SSCB) 1.32.82, 2. R. K. Pillai & Purshottham Rajanes (CERA), 3. L. Suresh & S. Gurunathan (KARA).
Coxless pairs: 1. Binu Kurian & Rampal Singh (CERA) 1.35.62, 2. Premchand & Johnson (SSCB), 3. Kulwinder & Jarmanjit Singh (PRA).
Coxless fours: 1. Surendar Singh, Gurnam Singh, Rampal Singh & Binu Kurian (CERA) 1.24.37, 2. Raghuveer Singh, Harjit Singh, Johnson & Youseph (SSCB) 3. Devinder Rao, Jaglar Singh, Kulwinder Singh & Jarmanjit Singh (PRA).
Men's Challenger: single sculls: 1. K. Manu (SSCB) 1.48.07, 2. Jarnail Singh (PRA), 3. B. Harsha (TARA).
Double sculls: Shashikumar Singh & Sumanta Roy Choudhury (WBRS) 1.41.55, 2. Udhaybir Singh & Sachin Kumar (SSCB), 3. P. P. Pandey & S. P. S. Yadav (AP).
Coxless pairs: K. Manu & Pramod Kumar (SSCB) 1.38.20, 2. Amit Singh & Indranil Choudhry (WBRA), 3. Gurwinder & Sukhwinder Singh (CERA).
Coxless fours: 1. Meera Saheb, Manoj Agastin, Manjunath & Sanjay Yadav (SSCB) 1.30.06, 2. Gurwinder, Sukhwinder, Vijabal & Rajinder Singh (CERA), 3. S. Chinmai, Pushkar Potphade, S. Tiwari & M. Jacob (KARA).
Women single sculls: 1. Jincymol Verghese (Ker) 1.57.87, 2. Gaythri Aithal (KRA), 3. Supriya Balasaheb Gaikwad (MRA).
Double sculls: Jincymol Verghese & Soniamma (Ker) 1.51.55, 2. Suchitra Rani Mandal & Manjula Rai (Andaman & Nocobar), 3. Monalisa Mohanty & Malabika Das (Ori).
Coxless pairs: 1. Julee Verghese & Sobini (Ker) 1.56.08, 2. Mary Monica Minj & Purna Laxmi Ray (A&N), 3. Sagarika Barik & Monalisa Mohanty (Ori).
Coxless fours: 1. Manjula Rai, Suchitra Rani, Purna Laxmi Ray & Mary Monica Minj (A&N) 1.41.97, 2. Julee Verghese, M. S. Malini, R. Sobini & Soniamma (Ker), 3. Aparjit Sen, Shreya Mitra, Olivia Roy & Hindola Dutta Roy (WBRA).
Sub-junior girls: single sculls: 1. Sneha Venkatraman (TARA) 2.25.96, 2. Amruta Parashar (MRA), 3. V. R. Sangamitra (TARA B).
Double sculls: 1. Sneha Venkataraman & Swathy Sanjay (TARA) 2.10.00, 2. K. Veena & M. Dhanashree (KARA).
Coxed fours: 1. Bandana Narula, R. Shwetha, Swathy Sanjay, V. R. Sangamitra & B. Preethi (2.06.55), 2. Aparna Gupta, Gargi Sen, Tamanga Sen, Tillotma Sarkar & Mani Gupta (WBRA), 3. A. Divya, Divya Jayachandra, Yeshaswini Ravindra, Philista Ziona Pinto & M. Dhanashree (Kar).
Sub-junior boys: single sculls: 1. Abhinandan (Kar) 2.01.97, 2. Sriram (TARA), 3. Manav Shah (MRA).
Double sculls: 1. Abhinandan & Srinivas (Kar) 2.00.59, 2. Romith Rao & R. Rohit (TARA), 3. P. S. Rahul & Nitin Kurian (TARA B).
Coxless pairs: 1. M. Mithun & K. Srinivas (KARA) 2.06.90, 2. Vasudeva Rao & P. Elisha (AP), 3. R. Abhimanyu & Varun Kapoor (TARA).
Coxed fours: P. S. Rahul, R. Rohit, R. Sriram, Romith Rao & Kiran Kurian (TARA) 1.56.07, 2. Hirananda Tikdar, Soumen Dutta, Rahul Banerjee, Ranjit Sarkar & Varun Gupta (WBRA), 3. Taskar, Kedarnath, Niranjan Mahadevan, Nitin John & Siddarth (TARA B).
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