Indian canoers enter final along with women's kayak pair

Hangzhou: India's Niraj Verma qualified for the final of the canoe sprint events at the Asian Games along with the men's and women's pairs, here on Saturday. Niraj topped the canoe single 1000m semi-final by clocking 4:31.626s after missing the final qualification in heat 1, where he managed a time of 4:25.162 seconds.

Taipei's Kuan-Chieh Lai emerged the winner by clocking a blistering 4:02.431s.

Later, the top three in the four-canoer semifinals advanced to the medal round with Niraj taking the top spot.


The eight-man final is scheduled for Monday.

The Indian team of Ribason Singh Ningthoujam and Gyaneshwor Singh Philem reached the canoe double 500m final after finishing third with a combined timing of 1:57.225 seconds in the semifinals.

This was after they finished fourth in heats with a timing of 1:54.829 seconds.

In the women's Kayak double 500m semifinal, the Indian duo of Binita Chanu Oinam and Parvathy Geetha finished second with a combined timing of 2:07.036 seconds after claiming fourth place in the heats, clocking 2:06.956 seconds.

India have won only one bronze medal so far in the sport at the Asian Games -- a bronze at the 1994 Hiroshima edition.

In the last edition in Jakarta, Indian athletes made eight finals across slalom and sprint events but could not secure a medal.

A kayak has a double bladed paddle whereas a canoe has a single bladed paddle.