Asian Para Games silver medal winning duo of Narayana Konganapalle and Anita returned empty-handed, finishing eighth overall in the PR3 mixed double sculls rowing of the Paris Paralympics in Paris on Sunday. Making their Paralympics debut, the Indians secured a timing of 8:16.96 seconds to finish second in Final B of their repechage event which was meant to determine their standings. Saige Happer and Todd Vogt of the USA topped the Final B race with a timing of 7:48.38s, while Mexico’s Miguel Angel Nieto Carpio and Angeles Britani Gutierrez Vieyra came behind the Indians (8:28.23s).

They had to compete in the Final B classification race for 7 to 12th spot following a third-place finish on Saturday.

The pair had finished the race with a timing of 7:54.33s, behind Ukraine (7:29.24s) and Great Britain (7:20.53s).

While guarding the Indian borders in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army sepoy Konganapalle had lost his left leg below the knee after stepping on a landmine in February 2015.

Anita had lost her leg in a road accident when she was 18.

The PR-3 category is meant for para-rowers with residual leg function that allows them to slide the seat during the rowing motion. 

Indian rower Balraj Panwar’s placed fifth in final D of the men’s singles sculls, as a result, India’s rowing campaign came to an end at the event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Panwar clocked 7:02.37 to rank fifth in final D and finished 23rd overall on his Olympic debut. His sixth-place finish semifinal C/D saw him advance to final D which is a classification event to seal his ranking from 19th to 24th. He had two solid outings at the Games after finishing fourth in the first heat and second in the second repechage rounds but was eliminated from medal contention after finishing fifth in the quarterfinals with a time of 7:05.10.

The 25-year-old Army man, who took up the sport only four years ago, could not register India’s best finish in rowing at the Olympics. The record still belongs to the men’s lightweight double sculls duo of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh, who finished 11th at Tokyo 2020.

Panwar was fourth at the Asian Games last year, narrowly missing out on a podium finish. He obtained a Paris 2024 quota by winning a bronze medal at the Asian and Oceanian Rowing Olympic Qualification Regatta in Chungju, South Korea, in April this year.

India’s lone representative in rowing at the Paris Olympics, Balraj Panwar on Tuesday finished fifth in his quarterfinals heat race of the men’s single sculls event and will now fight for minor positions. The 25-year-old clocked 7 minutes and 5.10 seconds in quarterfinals heat 4 to be relegated to semifinals C/D, meant for rowers to compete for positions 13th to 24th. Individual Neutral Athlete Yauheni Zalaty won the quarterfinals heat 4 with a time of 6:49.27, while Giedrius Bieliauskas (6:51.80) of Lithuania and Ryuta Arakawa (6:54.17) of Japan were second and third respectively.

Panwar had progressed to the quarterfinals after finishing second in his repechage round race on Sunday. He had finished fourth in his first round heat race on Saturday to make it to the repechage round.

Those who finished in top three in each of the four quarterfinal heats qualify for the semifinals A/B and the remainder compete in semifinals C/D. The rowers in semifinals A/B will vie for Final A/B races. Medals are awarded to the top three finishers in Final A.