BHOPAL, 11 February 2005 — The Services Selection Control Board (SSCB) teams in the men’s division clinched titles in the senior, junior and sub-junior categories in the 15th Indian National Kayaking and Canoeing Championships in Bhopal, the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh, at the picturesque Upper Lake last weekend.
The SSCB added one more gold to their overnight tally of 24 to hike their medal haul to 35 (25 golds, nine silvers and one bronze).
In the women’s division Kerala with their golden girl Minimol at the vanguard won the championship in the senior and junior sections. They harvested 23 medals including 10 golds, nine silvers and four bronzes.
Manipur, which finished third upstaging BEG, Roorkee in the medals tally, won the sub junior girls title. They captured three golds, five silvers and two bronze medals.
The Andaman &-Nicobar team which were trailing at the eighth place in the medals tally on the penultimate day jumped to fifth spot behind BEG. They had two golds, four silvers and bronzes each.
The runners-up in various categories were in senior section BEG, Roorkee (men) and Andaman & Nicobar (women), in juniors Madhya Pradesh (men) and Assam (women) while in sub-juniors Jammu & Kashmir (boys) and Andaman & Nicobar (girls).
Ashyut Machari of BEG, Roorkee and Satyawan of Army Sports Control Board, who won gold medals in K-1 and C-1 in half-marathon today, were awarded Governors rolling trophies.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Dr Balram Jakhar, who was the chief guest of the valedictory function, distributed prizes to the winners and runners-up of the championship, while Sports Minister Omprakash Dhurve presided over the valedictory function. Arjun awardee in rowing Surjit Singh was the special guest on the occasion.
The highlight of the four-day championship was the outstanding performance of Under-16 lad W. Amutombi Singh of SSCB. He broke two national records. On the opening day Amutombi with a timing of 4:200 in 1000 meters had clipped the national record by 0.11 seconds as he pocketed gold medal in C-1 men junior section.
In the sub-junior category of 500 meters C-1 event he repeated his feat to lower the national mark with a timing of 1.59:02 to win gold medal.
Hosts Madhya Pradesh, which were runners-up to SSCB with a rich harvest of 28 medals in the last edition of the championship held at Hyderabad, had a poor showing on their home front. They could muster only 17 medals here with a lone gold, seven silvers and nine bronzes and were placed seventh in the medals tally. The dismal performance this time was attributed to the fact that many of their medal winners, who were from Madhya Pradesh Police, were fielded by Indian Police team. This change of sides, however, did not benefit Indian Police which could manage just five medals with one silver and four bronzes and finished second last in the 15 teams which showed up in the medals tally.
The lack of co-ordination between the players in the new set up could not click
“Our performance was not good because in the championship seven senior players had joined the police team”, said MP Amateur Kayaking and Canoeing Association (MPAKCA) secretary general BS Kushwaha. According to Kushwaha this 15th chapter of the championship was one of the biggest gathering of players in any of the previous National Kayaking and Canoeing Championships so far.
For the first time marathon of kayaking and canoeing was organized in the country on the last day of championship. Bhopal Mayor Sunil Sood flagged- off the race. Ashyut Machari of West Bengal won the gold medal in the 21 km half marathon in K-1, Mahesh and Prashant of ASCB won gold in K-2 event, Satyavan in C-1 and Sunil Kevat and Sunil Keer in C-2 event won gold medal.
About 650 players and officials including 150 women players from 30 states, including tsunami-hit Andaman & Nicobar Islands, participated in the championship. The Andaman and Nicobar team received the applause from every spectator at the lake. It was amazing to see that they did participate in the championship even after having a huge to face the tsunami disaster. Governor The championship was organized by the Madhya Pradesh Amateur Kayaking and Canoeing Association and Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) in association with the Madhya Pradesh Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare.
