Asian Games: PH rowers bow out of medal race

Filipino rowers at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.–Photo from Philippine Rowing Association

HANGZHOU, China—Rowers Edgar Ilas and Zuriel Sumintac missed the medal race by six seconds after placing third in the repechage of the lightweight men’s double sculls on a rainy Thursday at the Fuyang Water Sports Center here.

The Filipino pair clocked seven minutes and 10.97 seconds, just a few ticks off second-placer Masayuki Miyaura and Masahiro Takeda of Japan (7:05.91) in the 2,000-meter distance won by India’s Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh (6:55.78).

Only the top two finishers in the repechage will progress to the medal race.

Lady rowers Feiza Jane Lenton and Kharl Sha will likewise have to skip the finals of the lightweight women’s double sculls after finishing fourth in 8:05.56.

Luizakhon Islomova and Malika Tagmatova of Uzbekistan topped the repechage in 7:40.59 followed by Indonesia’s Chelsea Corputty and Mutiara Putri (7:46.22) and South Korea’s Yujin Kim and Heeju Ahn (7:56.19).

Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympian Cris Nievarez advanced to the semifinals on Friday after placing third (7:20.51) behind China’s Liang Zhang and Japanese Ryuta Arakawa in heat 2 of the men’s single sculls.

Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Joanie Delgaco joined Nievarez in the semis after finishing second (8:07.60) in the first heat of the women’s single sculls, topped by Anna Prakaten of Uzbekistan.