Rowers bag another bronze but shuttlers crash
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Super duo Puttharaksa Negree and Rojjana Raklao claimed their second bronze medal in two days when they finished third in the women's lightweight doubles sculls at the Chungju Tangeum Lake Centre yesterday.
A day after settling for third in the women’s double sculls, veteran rower Phuttharaksa and her young team-mate battled hard against Japan’s Eri Wakai and Asumi Suehiro in the last 500 metres before the latter surged past them with a time of 7:26.15 minutes.
The Thai pair had to settle for bronze after clocking 7:26.22 while the gold went to China’s Zhang Huan and Chen Le, who crossed the finish line first in 7:18.95.
“Actually I didn’t expect much from this event but I was more determined than ever when we reached the final. However the Japanese and Chinese rowers are younger, and we competed in the doubles sculls yesterday and were still feeling tired,” said Phuttharaksa who has won a total of seven medals from four Asian Games dating back to the 13th edition in Thailand.
Rowing and Canoeing Association of Thailand president Admiral Chainarong Charoenrak was content with the two bronzes although he expected the Thai pair to take the gold.
“Winning two bronzes is not so bad. We still have athletes to compete in the slalom and kayak next week,” he said.
In shooting, Thai marksmen failed to find a place on the podium yesterday. The 50m rifle prone men’s team came fifth after scoring 1,852 points while the 25m standard pistol men’s team finished seventh following a combined 1,664. In skeet and trap, the double trap women’s team came fifth with 259.
In sepak takraw, both the men’s and women’s squads had no problem in the round-robin competitions. The men’s side ousted Japan 3-0 in Pool A while the women trounced Myanmar by the same score.
In badminton Thai No 1 Boonsak Ponsana and No 2 Tanogsak Saensomboonsuk crashed out in the men’s singles second round, losing to Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh 10-21 15-21 and Japan’s Kento Momota 14-21 17-21 respectively.
