Gorakhpur: Odisha stormed into the next round of the 25th Sub-Junior National Rowing Championships-2024 with a best-ever performance in the heats of four categories on the opening day on Thursday.
Telangana and Haryana won the three-category heats in the competition held at Ramgarh Tal in Gorakhpur. West Bengal A, Maharashtra A, Haryana A, Kerala and Kerala A also performed well in the two categories of heats.
A total of 33 heats were held on the first day.The teams that finished first in all the heats on Thursday secured a place in the next round, while players of the other placed teams will get another chance through the repechage round.
Chief guest, Kushinagar MP, Vijay Kumar Dubey along with special guests Sahjanwa MLA Pradeep Shukla and Bansgaon MLA Vimlesh Paswan encouraged the players to perform well. Uttar Pradesh Rowing Association president Rani Pakshalika Singh (BJP MLA), Uttar Pradesh Rowing Association secretary Sudhir Sharma and organising secretary Puneet Kumar were also present on the occasion.
In the U-13 boys double sculls event, Odisha clocked 1: 54.85 to finish on top of the podium. Telangana stands at second position and Tamil Nadu A at third.
In the sub-junior boys double sculls heats, Odisha came first with a timing of 1: 28.62, followed by Tamil Nadu B with a timing of 1: 58.52 and Uttar Pradesh with a timing of 2: 28.56. In sub-junior girls double sculls, Odisha girls finished first with a timing of 1: 59.40, followed by Maharashtra with a timing of 2: 09.42 and Haryana with a timing of 2: 31.26.