Panwar, Ajay-Lakshay duo star in rowing nationals

Pune: Asian Championship gold medal winners, the double scull duo of Ajay Tyagi and Lakshay, and single sculler Balraj Panwar stamped their class by emerging on top in the 43rd National Rowing Championships in Pune.Panwar, representing Services, timed 7 minutes 31.2 seconds to pip Army man Salman Khan by two-hundredth of a second for the single scull gold while Ajay and Lakshay also fought off a strong challenge from Ujjwal Kumar Singh and Sushil as they came home in 6:36.5 for the top honours in double scull at the Army Rowing Node.
The Services team of Rohit, Kulwinder Singh, Satnam Singh and Manjeet Kumar clinched the quadruple scull gold in 6:03.9 ahead of the quartet of Mohit, Kaushlesh Pratap Singh, Dhananjay Panwar and Karamjit Singh, who were fielded as a team from the national federation RFI since their home association of Delhi has been under suspension.In the women's segment, Madhya Pradesh's Santosh Yadav (8:22.5) took the single scull gold ahead of Maharashtra's Mrunmayee Salgaonkar (8:27.8) and Kerala's Saniya J Krishnan (8:30.6).The combo of B Anandhi and Kiran Devi, representing All India Police, took the lightweight double scull gold in 7:43.4 while Manisha Dangi and Jigyasa Regar won the pairs event in 7:56.6 for MP's second gold from the competition, held from Jan 27 to 31.Services clinched the overall championship, finishing with eight gold and a silver.The top two medallists in respective events are likely to form the team of probables from which the final squad for this year's Asian Games will be selected, according to national head coach Ismail Baig.Baig, a Dronacharya awardee, also said that the RFI fielded a women's team since some of the players who had just returned from Australia, where they had been on a training-cum-competition programme funded by JSW, failed to meet their respective state association's selection policy.The RFI also fielded two teams in the men's competition, comprising players from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, as the two associations were under suspension and the federation didn't want the athletes to be affected, according to Baig.