Asian Games: Vishal, Shikha advance to Canoe and Kayak event finals

Although Vishal faced a setback in the initial heats, he managed to secure a spot in the semifinals with commendable performances in the second heats event.

Hangzhou: Indian canoeists Vishal Kewat and Shikha Chauhan stormed into the final of their respective categories of canoe and kayak competitions at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday.

Vishal faltered in the first heats, but he made it to the semis through his good performances in the second heats event.

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In the semifinal, Vishal managed to clock timings of 134.15 seconds, finished at the 10th spot and advanced to the medal round despite a 56-second penalty.

The men’s canoe final will start at 11:30 IST today.

Coming to the women’s Kayak semifinal, Shikha finished in sixth spot with timings of 133.23 seconds. She reached the finals.

The final of the women’s kayak competition will start on 12:01 IST today.

“Canoe Slalom Updates Men C1 Canoe – Vishal Kewat, finished 10th in Semifinals with time 190.15 & qualified for Finals (among 8 finalists) Women K1 Kayak – Shikha Chouhan, finished 6th in Semifinals with time 185.23 & qualified for Finals (among 7 finalists) All the best, champs #Cheer4India #JeetegaBharat #BharatAtAG22 #Hallabol,” tweeted Sports Authority of India (SAI) Media. Earlier on October 3, India sealed a bronze medal in the men’s canoe double 1000m event.

India’s Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh paired up to finish in third place and clinched the bronze medal. The India duo clocked 3:53.329mins in the men’s canoe double 1000m race. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Shokhmurod Kholmuradov and Nurislom Tukhtasin Ugli sealed the gold medal after finishing at 3:43.79mins. Kazakhstan’s Timofey Yemelyanov and Sergey Yemelyanov finished at the silver spot after they clocked 3:49.991mins.