National Rowing Championship: Services stamp authority; Satnam upsets Olympian Arvind

Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) ruled the waters at the Army Rowing Node, CME, but it was 22-year-old Navy man Satnam Singh who prevented them from sweeping stakes in the of 40th Senior Rowing Championships 2023 on Friday.

Services at the end of the day bagged all but one of the eight titles up for grabs in the men's section, which included the Para Men's Single Sculls which was decided on Thursday.

The face-off between the Army Sports Control Board (ASCB) and Services turned out to be a Services day out in the five events that both lined up for. As a result, the Coxed Eights, Quadruple Sculls, Coxless Fours, Double Sculls and LightWeight Double Sculls events saw a Service-Army end at the finish line.

The day also had a huge result in the Men's Single Sculls event when 2018 Youth Olympian Satnam Singh (7 minutes 11.9 seconds) topped his run in the 2000-meter run. The win was huge as it was his maiden National title in the event he picked up just a month and a half back, but above all, it was getting the better of the fancied and experienced Tokyo Olympian Arvind Singh (7:13.8s) and Karamjit (Army; 7:15.4s).

Victory for Satnam also meant pushing the smooth-running Services contingent into a second-placed finish for the first time in the day.

In the women's section, Mrunmayee Salgaokar bagged the Women's Single Sculls event and earned the lone success for Maharashtra. With a winning effort of 8:24.4s, the Nashik-based lass pulled ahead of defending champion Kushpreet Kaur (Madhya Pradesh; 8:29.7s) and Uttar Pradesh's Kiran Devi (8:53.9s).

For Mrunmayee, the gold meant bettering her bronze medal finish she managed at Pune during the last Senior Nationals. Moreover, the win was huge as she relegated both Kushpreet and Kiran who finished ahead of her.

The women's section, unlike the men's, was competitive with Odisha winning three events, Manipur pocketed two, while Maharashtra and Kerala had one each.

Orissa eves had wins in the Coxed Eights, Coxless Pairs and LightWeight double Sculls events respectively, while Manipur had the Quadruple Sculls and Double Sculls events in their bag. Kerala bagged the Coxless Fours title.

The action now shifts to the 24th Open Sprint National which begins on Saturday.

( With inputs from ANI )