In what can be called a historic moment for Indian sports, rower Balraj Panwar secured country’s first Paris 2024 Olympics quota at the Asian Olympic qualifiers on Sunday, in South Korea. Panwar finished third in the men’s singles scull event by clocking an impressive 7:01:27 over the 2000m course.
The mixed double Scull Para Rowers, Narayana Konganapalle and Anita, also secured their berths for the Paris 2024 event. The duo clocked 7:50:80 to make their entry for the competition. Unfortunately, the team of Arvind Singh and Ujjwal Kumar could not go through, despite their bright performance in the men’s lightweight doubles sculls. Only top two in the category got Paris 2024 quotas.
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How Well Did Balraj Panwar Perform? Can he Win a Medal at Paris 2024?
While Balraj Panwar did come up with a strong performance in the men’s singles sculls in 2000m, but realistically, he looks out of contention for a medal at Paris 2024 Olympics. At the 2020 Olympics, the sixth-placed athlete in the same category, Lithuania’s Mindaugas Griskonis clocked 6:57:60s.
The bronze medal was decided at 6:42.58s, and went to Croatia’s Damir Martin. The gold medal was decided at 6:40.45. So, Panwar would have to really row out of his skin to be in medal contention at the Olympics.
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