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China made a triumphant start to the Asian Games on Sunday (September 24) as they secured the inaugural gold medal of the 19th edition of the prestigious competition. Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping emerged as champions in the lightweight women's doubles sculls rowing competition. They dominated their opponents by clocking a time of seven minutes and 6.78 seconds, finishing almost 10 seconds ahead of the rowers from Uzbekistan in second place.
After the event, with the gold medal in hand, Chinese athlete Zou told the media:
"I am very excited as it's my first Asian Games."
Her partner went on to add:
"Stepping on to the podium today is a new starting point to help us prepare for next year's Paris Olympics."
India claims its first medals in rowing
Like the Chinese, the Indian contingent, too, opened its tally with medals in rowing.
India’s Lightweight Men's Double Sculls pair of Arjun Lal Jat & Arvind Singh claimed the country’s first medal by finishing second in their event to bag the silver. The duo crossed the finish line with a time of 6:28.18 seconds, only five seconds separating them and winners China in first place. Uzbekistan, meanwhile, took the bronze.
The men’s coxed eight team consisting of Neeraj, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar Ashish, and Dhananjay Uttam Pandey clinched India’s second silver medal in rowing by finishing with an impressive time of 05:43.01, just 2.84 seconds behind China, who won gold.
India has previously won a bronze medal in this event in the 2014 edition of the Games.
The Indian duo of Babu Lal Yadav, Ram Lekh secured the bronze in the men’s pair event, crossing the finishing line with a timing of six minutes and 50.41 seconds, just behind Hong Kong and Uzbekistan in first and second places, respectively.
With the rowers and shooters already winning medals, the Indian athletes have started the Asian Games on a high note, setting a positive atmosphere for their fellow countrymen taking part in the Games.
