look news india
Paris, July 27 (HS). India's Paris Olympic campaign in rowing got off to a poor start as Balraj Panwar finished fourth in the first heat race on Saturday.
Balraj clocked 7:07:11 minutes and finished fourth out of six competitors in his heat. Only three players from each heat race could directly qualify for the quarter-finals.
However, all hope is not lost for Balraj, as he is still eligible to compete in the repechage round on Sunday.
In heat one, New Zealand's Thomas McIntosh finished first with a time of 6:55.92 minutes. Greece's rower Stefanos Ntouskos earned second place with a time of 7:01.79 minutes. Third place went to Egypt's Abdelkhalek El-Banna, who clocked 7:05.06 minutes.
India has fielded only one rower at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In April, Panwar had secured India's first Paris Olympics quota in rowing by finishing third in the men's single scull event at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Chungju, South Korea.