Srinagar: Madhya Pradesh made a clean sweep of all the four gold medals at stake on Day 2 of the Khelo India Water Sports Festival (KIWSF) at the Dal Lake here on Friday while hosts Jammu and Kashmir added a silver to their overnight tally while two more silvers left Odisha at No. 2 in the medal standings.
On another warm day, all four finals in canoeing and kayaking were scheduled in the second half of the day. Madhya Pradesh, a major force in water sports, won its first gold medal in the men’s 500m kayaking doubles and never looked back after that to go No. 1 on the standings.
Seven gold medals have been decided so far, and on the final day on Saturday, 17 medals will be decided, and 10 of them will be in rowing. With several Services rowers representing the 28 states and Union Territories taking part in these Games, it should see some keen competition. All events being held here are Olympic medal events.
Niharika Singh and Chanderika Kushwaha, who won gold in K-2 Kayaking 500 metres women’s doubles, said that they were glad to be in Kashmir and had prepared well for the event. They said the Sports Authority of India had helped them in their sports journey leading up to this event and were looking forward to future events like this.
Sudhir Kumar and Prince Goswami, who won gold in the C-2 Canoeing 500 metres men’s event, said that in both the 2024 and 2025 national championships, they had won bronze. They said that they were practising for the Asian Games 2026 to be held in Japan. “We loved Kashmir and the competition was great,” they said. “Khelo India is a great platform and will help the youth a lot.”
Dally Bishnoi, the gold medal winner in the Kayaking 500 metres women’s event, said she was thrilled to have clinched the gold medal. She said that the Khelo India gold would serve as a stepping stone on her way to success. Bishnoi said that she plans to bring India glory at the Asian Games and the Olympics and would train really hard for it.
Results (All finals):
Kayaking – K2 500m Men: 1. Aditya Singh and Manjeet (Madhya Pradesh) 01.41.59 sec 2. Shantosh Khwairakpam and Naoram James Singh (Odisha) 01:44.50 3. Vishal Dangi and Aditya Saini (Uttarakhand) 01.45.20 sec
Canoeing – C2 500m Men: 1. Sudhir Kumar and Prince Goswami (Madhya Pradesh) 01:50.94 secs 2. Mohammad Hussain and Sajad Hussain (J&K) 01.52.61 sec 3. Pradeep Kumar and Abhay (Uttar Pradesh) 01.53.99 sec.
Kayaking – K1 500m Women: 1. Dally Bishnoi (Madhya Pradesh) 02.11.09 sec 2. Pukhrambamroji Devi (Uttarakhand) 02.14.06 sec 3. Nikita Sarkar (Kerala) 02.22.15 sec
Kayaking – K2 500m Women: 1. Niharika Singh and Chandrakala Kushwaha 02.04.64 sec 2. Bidya Devi Oinam and Shruti Tanaji Chougule (Odisha) 02.08.10 3. Arathy Renjith and Heera Alphons (Kerala) 02.09.65 sec.
(IANS)
