Twisha strikes gold for Karnataka
Teenager Twisha K Prasad pulled off a sensational victory in a thrilling women’s Kayak-1 (K-1) 1000-metre final to pocket her maiden Senior-level gold in the 22nd National Kayaking and Canoeing championships at the Ulsoor Lake on Thursday.
Twisha clocked three minutes 53.44 seconds for the title, edging out favourite A Nanao Devi of Madhya Pradesh by a razor-thin margin of 0.06 seconds. Nanao, the bronze medallist at the Asian championships this year in Tehran, took silver in 3:53.50 while Ragina Kiro of Andaman and Nicobar claimed the bronze in 3:55.36.
“I am really excited to win the gold at home,” said the 14-year-old Twisha, a ninth standard student of Kendriya Vidyalaya (MEG and Centre).
Twisha’s effort fetched Karnataka their first gold at the meet. “It was a very tough race. Even when I was trailing, I just concentrated on giving my hundred percent effort and not even the slightest thought of losing ever came across my mind,” Twisha added.
At the half-way stage, Twisha was in total control of the proceedings and seemingly cruising along. But seasoned campaigner Nanao had other ideas as she soon shifted gears to go past Twisha and held on to a pretty good lead. At the 800-metre mark, Twisha some how found the energy to draw level with her opponent, matching her stroke for stroke. Refusing to budge, she continued to put in a lot of effort in each of her strokes before crossing the finish line just ahead of Nanao.
Hosts’ only other medal on the second day was a bronze won by the pair of O Rakesh Singh and Soniy Singh in the men’s 1000M canoe (C-2) race.
Results (1000 metres final): Kayaking: Men: K-1: A Ching Ching (MP) 3:18.95, 1; A Gyanjit Singh (Manipur) 3:22.04, 2; Romesh Salam (AP) 3:22.40, 3. K-2: SSCB (Bhupinder Singh, DVS Negi) 3:08.83, 1; Andhra Pradesh (Surender Singh, Yadav Ram) 3:11.84, 2; Kerala (Aneesh Kumar, Aravind S) 3:13.19, 3. K-4: SSCB (Shanti Swaroop, Nithin Kumar, Premanand, Ajit Singh) 2:48.28, 1; Andhra Pradesh (Yadav Ram, Surender Singh, Shimmi Sharma, Romesh) 2:49.60, 2; Madhya Pradesh (Ramakrishna Mishra, Dileep Negi, Nanao Sungh, Sandeep Kumar) 2:50.75, 3. Junior boys: K-1: Satpal Tomar (MP) 3:27.58, 1; Ravinder Kumar (Uttarakhand) 3:31.62, 2; Dinesh Kumar Sahu (Chhatisgarh) 3:38.96, 3. K-2: Madhya Pradesh (N Superson Singh, Kuldeep Singh Keer) 3:13.75, 1; Uttarakhand (P Raj Singh, Somorjit Singh) 3:15.01, 2; Andhra Pradesh (Abhijit M Das, Justin Joseph) 3:15.11, 3. K-4: Uttarakhand (Mithun Maity, Raj Singh, Somorjit Singh, Ravinder Kumar) 3:02.07, 1; Madhya Pradesh (Satypal Tomar, Superson Singh, Kuldeep Keer, Ravichandra) 3:03.76, 2; Delhi (Mohit, Sandeep, Shekhar Mann, Ajit Yadav) 3:06.78, 3.
Women: K-1: Twisha K Prasad (Karnataka) 3:53.44, 1; A Nanao Devi (MP) 3:53.50, 2; Ragina Kiro (Andaman & Nicobar) 3:55.36, 3. K-2: Madhya Pradesh (A Nanao Devi, N Lanjenganbi) 3:41.57, 1; Andaman & Nicobar (Ragina Kiro, Sandhy Kispotta) 3:43.28, 2; Kerala (Sheebamol AT, Justymol CT) 3:56.60, 3. K-4: Madhya Pradesh (Seema Dung Dung, N Lanjngnbi, Sonia Rana, Bidya Rani) 3:16.53, 1; Kerala (Silpamol S, Simimol NB, Anitha S, Sheebamol K A) 3:28.59, 2; Manipur (W Thamba Devi, RK Sanajaobi, L Bony, L Meena Devi) 3:33.53, 3. Canoeing: Men: C-1: James Boy Singh (SSCB) 3:40.18, 1; Rahul Kumar (UP) 3:41.64, 2; Zasaimon Singh (MP) 3:52.11, 3. C-2: SSCB (Amarjeet Singh, Prakant Sharma) 3:21.38, 1; Madhya Pradesh (Ankit Kumar, Nafees Qureshi) 3:22.72, 2; Karnataka (O Rakesh Singh, Soniy Singh) 3:27.55, 3. C-4: SSCB (Amarjeet Singh, James Boy Singh, Johnine Singh, Vivek Kumar) 3:04.48, 1; Madhya Pradesh (Nafes Qureshi, Zasaimon Singh, Aushotosh Parihar, Abhay Singh) 3:08.50, 2; Andhra Pradesh (Amuten Singh, Abung, Sanjit Sharma, Pushpendar) 3:15.37, 3. Junior boys: C-1: Ajith Kumar (Uttarakhand) 3:43.58, 1; Charan Singh (AP) 3:45.03, 2; Dhanajit Singh (MP) 3:51.66, 3. C-2: Uttarakhand (Pushpender Singh, Gourav Tomar) 3:25.02, 1; Madhya Pradesh (N Dhanajit Singh, Dipjyoti Singh) 3:25.82, 2; Andhra Pradesh (Swami Singh, O Romeo Singh) 3:36.68, 3. C-4: Uttarakhand (Gourav Tomar, K Rahul Singh, Pushpender Singh, Kishore Gurung) 3:14.61, 1; Andhra Pradesh (M Charan Singh, Hemanth Singh, Swami Singh, Romio Singh) 3:16.31, 2; Madhya Pradesh (Rabikanta Singh, Dipjyoti Bordoli, Amit Khushwaha, Bhuwan Maravi) 3:17.08, 3.
