Finals racing decides Asia & Oceania Olympic & Paralympic quota spots

Racing for quota spots in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games was completed today at the World Rowing Asia & Oceania Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta.

Using the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic regatta course, the Sea Forest Waterway on Tokyo Bay, rowers experienced perfect, flat water conditions with cloudy skies and temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius.

PR1 men’s single sculls (PR1M1x)

The final was dominated by Mahesh Jayakodi of Sri Lanka.  Coming into this race Jayakodi had the most international experience of the finalists and he showed that this experience was an advantage by leading from start to finish. With one boat to qualify for the Paralympic Games, Jayakodi became the first para rower to go to the Paralympics today.

PR1 women’s single sculls (PR1W1x)

The most experienced coming into this two-boat race was home favourite Tomomi Ichikawa of Japan. Ichikawa came 14^th at the 2019 World Rowing Championships and she took off into the lead over Samitha Gowinnage Dona of Sri Lanka. Ichikawa retained a consistent, steady rhythm to remain easily ahead of Gowinnage Dona.

Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x)

Through the initial rounds Japan had been showing their strength and they showed their talent today. The Japanese duo of Naoki Furuta and Mitsuo Nishimura managed to inch away early on. But the margin was small with India and Indonesia on the pace. Then Japan broke away to over a boat length lead. These three boats remained the leading crews and took out the top three spots. India was second with Uzbekistan coming in third.

Results: JPN, IND, UZB, INA, HKG, KAZ

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)

Vietnam established themselves early on to lead over Japan and these two boats then broke clean away from the rest of the field. They had clean water over the rest of the field. Then an almighty sprint to the finish gave Japan’s Chiaki Tomita and Ayami Oishi the gold as they took the lead with 250m left to row. Tomita is accomplished already with a silver medal in the lightweight single from the 2019 World Rowing Championships.

Results: JPN, VIE, IRI, INA, KOR, UZB

Men’s single sculls (M1x)

It was a tight start in the men’s single with only India slightly off the pace. The top five boats had a chance of making a quota spot and all boats were attacking. Then Japan’s Ryuta Arakawa and Iran started to break away from the field and with 500m left they had a very handy leading margin. Arakawa, who raced in the men’s double at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, then really took off in a final sprint.

Results: JPN, IRI, KAZ, IND, UZB, VIE

Women’s single sculls (W1x)
All boats went away well before Japan decided to break away. Shiho Yonekawa of Japan then got a half boat length lead over Iran’s Nazanin Malaei with Vietnam holding the pace. Yonekawa and Malaei then broke away from the field with Yonekawa continuing in the leading position. The order remained the same with Yonekawa completely breaking away with 500m left to row. Shiho Yonekawa must have been loving the home advantage and the flat water as she drove home in first place.

Results: JPN, IRI, TPE, VIE, KAZ, KOR