Asian Games: Joanie Delgaco reaches rowing final

PH rower Joanie Delgaco at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. –JUNE NAVARRO/INQUIRER

HANGZHOU, China—Rower Joanie Delgaco stormed out of the gates and wound up second in her semifinal heat on Friday to advance into the medal race of the women’s single sculls in the 19th Asian Games at the Fuyang Water Sports Center.

Delgaco, a 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, reached the line in eight minutes and 18.30 seconds behind Japanese Shiho Yonekawa’s 8:06.32 clocking over the 2,000-meter distance.

Joining them in the finals is Hong Kong’s Wing Wun Leung, who ended up third (8:20.35) after maintaining her constant speed from start to finish that kept Vietnam’s Ho Thi Duy (8:23.56) at bay.

Tokyo Olympian Cris Nievarez didn’t earn the same luck as Delgaco, finishing fourth in his semifinal heat in the men’s single sculls with a time of 7:25.65.

Nievarez checked in three seconds slower than third-placer Balraj Panwar of India (7:22.22) in the race topped by China’s Liang Zhang (7:12.77) and Kazakhstan’s Vladislav Yakovlev (7:19.27).

Only the top three finishers in each of the two semifinals heats in both genders progressed to the finals scheduled Monday.

Aside from Wing and Yonekawa, Delgaco should put up against Uzbekistan’s Anna Prakaten, China’s Liu Ruiqi and Taipei’s Huang Yi Ting in the medal race. Prakaten topped the other semis heat in 7:47.88 followed by Liu (7:55.69) and Huang (8:14.36).