Key Takeaways
- India earned a historic bronze medal in canoeing, its first Asiad medal in 29 years.
- The team of Sunil Singh Salam and Arjun Singh finished the 1000m sprint in 3:53.329, securing third place.
- Earlier, Johnny Rommel and Siji Kumar Sadanandan won India’s inaugural Asiad canoeing medal in 1994.
Hangzhou: India won their second ever medal in Asiad canoeing after the men’s team of Sunil Singh Salam and Arjun Singh clinched bronze.
The duo secured the podium spot in the double 1000m sprint event at the 2023 Asian Games on Tuesday.
The first ever medal for India at the Asiad was won by the combo of Johnny Rommel and Siji Kumar Sadanandan, who bagged bronze in the same event at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.
Sunil and Arjun completed their course in 3:53.329 to earn the podium spot at the Fuyang Water Sports.
Shokhmurod Kholmuradov and Nurislom Tukhtasin Ugli of Uzbekistan won the gold medal with a timing of 3:43.796. The Kazakhstan team of Timofey and Sergey Yemelyanov finished with bronze, clocking 3:49.991.
In the other medal races scheduled on Tuesday, Soniya Devi Phairembam finished eighth in women’s Kayak Single 500m, clocking 2:14.555. Soniya was also part of the women’s kayak four 500m team, also featuring Binita Chanu Oinam, Parvathy Geeta, Dimita Devi Toijam, which finished eighth with 1:55.420.
Kaveri and Neha Devi Leichonbam also came in eighth in the women’s canoe double 200m.
The canoe sprint events at the Asian Games 2023 concluded on Tuesday. The slalom events will start on October 5.
