Albanki, Alhasan qualify for Final B in men’s rowing

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain rowers Fahad Albanki and Omar Alhasan qualified for Final B in the men’s double sculls competition yesterday at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Competing in the second race of their repechage round, Albanki and Alhasan finished last amongst the five crews in eight minutes 39.54 seconds. They were nearly two minutes from the winning pair from Indonesia, who advanced to Final A along with the two-man team from Iran who finished second.

South Korea’s Dongyong Kim and Hyunsu Park, and Thailand ‘s Narongsak Naksaeng and Premanut Wattananusith, were third and fourth, respectively, and they also made it through to Final B. All three crews will be joined in Final B, taking place on Sunday, by pairings from Kuwait, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.

In final A, the crews from Indonesia and Iran will compete for medals against opponents from Iraq, China, Uzbekistan and India. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s woman rower Maryam Abdulhameed wrapped up her Asiad participation yesterday in the women’s single sculls.

Competing in race one of her repechage round, Maryam needed a spot in the top three to advance to the semi-finals. But she finished fourth in a time of 11:48.17, more than three minutes behind winner Thi Duy Ho of Vietnam, who completed the race in 8:34.52.

Sehyeon Chae of South Korea was second and Haya Almamy of Saudi Arabia third. Bahrain’s rowers are making the Kingdom’s historic debut appearance in the sport at the Asian Games. Also on the water yesterday, Bahrain’s Abdulla Janahi and Khalifa Al Doseri began their campaigns in their respective classes in sailing.

Vying for a medal in the men’s dinghy category, Janahi ranked ninth overall in his fleet after the first two of the 10 races in the competition. He has 18 points after scoring nine each in races one and two. Jeemin Ha of South Korea leads the fleet with three points.

Meanwhile, Al Doseri also ranked ninth competing in the boys’ dinghy category with 19 points. He scored 10 in race one and nine in the second. Thailand’s Weka Bhanubandh leads with two points.

The sailing competitions at the Hangzhou Asiad consist of 10 races, to be held over five days. Each competitor sails in two races a day. Points are won to determine the positions in each stage, and at the end the sailor with the lowest points emerges the winner.