National Rowing Championships: Army, Services rowers head into final face off

Pune (Maharashtra)[India], February 24 : Oarsmen from the Army Sports Control Board (ASCB) and the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) proved a dominant force and hogged the limelight in the semifinals of 40th Senior and 24th Open Sprint National Rowing Championships 2023 at the Army Rowing Node, CME on Thursday.
In the men's section, the two rowing powerhouses had 11 top-place finishes on Day-2 of the competition, while four other units - Chandigarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, were left to add themselves in the final competition.
Likewise, in the women's section honours were scattered with seven states having their representation in the finals. Orissa and Madhya Pradesh had two finalists each.
The state interest was kept alive with Nashik-lass Mrunmayee Salgaonkar making it to the finals of the Single Sculls (W1x) clocking 8:22.4s. The effort by Mrunmayee, an ARN trainee, was far better than Punjab's Kushpreet Kaur (8:35.9s) who topped in the corresponding semifinal.
In the corresponding men's section, it was Satnam Singh (7:17.3s) who won his face-off with Tokyo Olympian Arvind Singh (7:18.9s). Later, Armyman Karamjit (7:31.9s) joined in as the second semifinal winner.
With the ongoing races going into a sundown finish, Army rowers topped in the Coxed Eights, Single Sculls, Double Sculls, Quadruple Sculls, LightWeight Double Sculls and Coxless Pairs events. On the other hand, Services squared up for a face off in four events namely the Coxless Pairs, Double Sculls, Coxless Fours, LightWeight Double Sculls.
The day, later, witnessed the first gold medal decided in the Para Men's Single Scull.
World Cup bronze medalist Hav. Narayan Konganapalle did well by clocking 8 minutes 14.1 seconds to pip Armyman Nk. Kuldeep (8:59.9).
Meanwhile, 2018 Asian Games gold medalist Dattu Bhokanal failed to make it to finals of the Single Sculls event on his comeback run.