India's Dattu Bhokanal will once again take to the magnificent Lagoa stadium at Rio for his single sculls rowing event on Friday, 12th August. The 25-year-old has made it to the semi-finals of the event albeit one that won't give him the chance to win a medal in the coming days.
Rowing in the Olympics has a total of six finals of which finishing in top three of only one will get you on the podium and that's the 'A' finals. The A finals represent the six best rowers in the event. While 1st , 2nd and 3rd win medals, the other three only fight for world rankings.
Likewise in the B finals, they'll fight for world rankings between 7th and 12th. You qualify for the A finals by finishing in the top three of either of the two A/B semifinals. You qualify for the A/B semifinals by finishing in the top three of your respective quarterfinals.
Since Dattu Bhokanal finished 4th in his quarterfinals, he qualifies for the C/D semifinals – ones that in no way possible lead you to the A finals. The only thing Dattu Bhokanal can fight for now is a world ranking between 13th and 24th.
He finished 15th overall in the quarterfinal stage – where only the top 12 stand a chance to make it to the A finals – and that means he could realistically fight for the upper rankings in his semifinals.
Bhokanal is in the second of the two C/D semi-finals alongside Peru's Renzo Garcia, South Korea's Dongyong Kim, Hungary's Bendegúz Pétervári-Molnár, Lithuania's Armandas Kelmelis and Iraq's Mohammed Al-Khafaji.
He surely has it tough in his semifinals but finishing in the top three will see him compete in the C finals – an admirable feat for someone partaking in their first ever Olympics. For someone who not so long ago was afraid of water, Bhokanal has surely conquered it all and this is only the beginning.
