Indian rowers Arjun Jat, Arvind Singh seal Tokyo Olympics quota
The Indian duo finished second in the men’s lightweight double sculls event. This was the final qualifying event for Indian rowers.
Indian rowers Arjun Jat and Arvind Singh sealed a quota place for the Tokyo Olympics with a second-place finish at the World Rowing Asia Oceania Continental Olympic and Paralympic Qualifying Regatta in Tokyo on Friday.
Competing in the lightweight double sculls event, the Indian duo clocked six minutes and 36.92 seconds to finish behind Japan’s Naoki Furuta and Mitsuo Nishimura. The Japanese pair won the race in six minutes and 34.70 seconds. Uzbekistan’s Shakhboz Kholmurzaev and Sobirjon Safaroliyev were third in 6:38.27.
At the Sea Forest Waterway, the venue for rowing at the Tokyo Games, the Indians started the race well by powering through the opening section and stayed within touching distance of the leaders Furuta and Nishimura. However, they lost steam in the final 500 metres.
Their qualification guarantees India’s participation in the rowing event at the Olympics for the sixth consecutive edition since Kasam Khan and Inderpal Singh participated at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Later though, Jakar Khan too achieved the qualification criteria with a fourth-place finish in his single sculls final. But Khan couldn’t make the Olympics cut since rules allow just one boat from a nation to qualify from the continental meet.
In case of more than one boat achieving the qualification standards, the highest-ranking finisher is granted the quota place for the Summer Games.
Meanwhile, the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) has confirmed that the Indian team will skip the World Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland that starts next weekend.
“We believe it’s too close to the (Tokyo) Games and given the COVID-19 situation across the world, it was decided that we will focus on the continental event only,” RFI secretary general MV Sriram told Olympics.com.
“Unfortunately, we could only have one boat make the Olympic cut from the continental event. Our rowers are coming out an intensive few weeks which culminated with the event in Tokyo. They will look at winding down now with Arjun and Arvind shifting focus on the Tokyo Games,” Sriram added.