HANGZHOU: The Indian canoeist Soniya Devi Phairembam secured her berth in the final of women’s Kayak single 500 m at the ongoing Asian Games on Sunday.
With the timing of 2 minutes and 16.435 seconds, she finished in second spot in the semifinals below Madinakhon Ashrafxonova of Uzbekistan (2:11.352) to be among the top three players to reach the final.
The women’s kayak single 500 m final will be played on Tuesday.
On the other hand in the women’s single 200 m canoe event, Megha Pradeep finished at the bottom out of four players with a timing of 55.406 seconds, failing to reach the final.
Earlier, India’s canoeing athlete Niraj Verma and a team of Binita Chanu and Geetha Parvathy entered the final of the men’s 1000 m singles canoeing and women’s 500 m kayak double event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.
In the semifinal of the men’s 1000 m singles canoeing event, Niraj clocked 4:31.626 to qualify for the final.
Later, in the women’s 500 m kayak double event semifinal, Binita and Geetha clocked 2:07.036 to finish second and among the top three teams that reached the final.
The finals for these two events are scheduled for October 2.
Canoeing events will be held at the Asian Games from September 30 to October 7. Sprint events will take place from September 30 to October 3 while slalom races will take place from October 5 to October 7.
India has 17 athletes competing in canoeing events at the 19th Asian Games, with four competing in slalom events and 13 competing in sprint events. (ANI)