ASIAN ROWING OFFERS 10 GOLDS ON FIRST DAY OF FINALS

CHINA takes seven out of 10 golds

Fri, 13 Sept

SHENYANG - China grabbed seven out of 10 gold medals on offer in the first day finals at the 2024 Asian Rowing U19&U23 Championships along the Hun river here on Friday, with the other three taken by Uzbekistan and Iran.

After winning four of the five in the morning, China added three more in the afternoon from both men's and women's U19 four and women's U23 pair where the host rowers won their events by at least five seconds.

Of the other three finals of the day, Uzbekistan triumphed twice in women's U19 pair and men's U23 pair, while Iran also stood atop the podium by winning the women's U23 quadruple sculls that also included China, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

In the morning, the first gold medal of the championships was taken by China in the men's U23 four, which has attracted great attention as only three teams of China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan competed for the top honor. The Chinese quartet of Zheng Junjie, Zhao Xinzhe, Qiu Caoyuliang and Jiang Tao crossed the finish line first in 6:18.78, followed by Kazakhstan in 6:21.37 and Uzbekistan in 6:26.53.

"Rowing is the sport that tests both our mindset and stamina and we're happy to take it up as professional athletes," said Qiu, "We have tuned up for the championships for three months. And we know that we need to exert more efforts in the future in order to perform well in every international tournament." 

"It's definitely a difficult game for us, because our country, China and Uzbekistan are the top three in the men's four among Asian countries.” said Fomichyov Timur of Kazakhstan. 

China also won both men's and women's four as well as men's U23 double sculls and women's U19 quadruple sculls in the morning.

The ongoing championships will offer the last 10 gold medals on Saturday.

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