Lankans prevail at Beira Lake
The Colombo Rowing Club composed a superlative performance against the Karachchi Boat Club to comfortably orchestrate a dominant 62 (Ladies 30, Men 32) – 14 (Ladies 8, Men 6) triumph and secure the inaugural Colombo- Karachchi Regatta, at the Colombo Rowing Club yesterday.
CRC snatched the initiative from the outset through a clutch of strong races that established an early lead which swelled progressively to unassailable proportions. A little more than halfway through the event and KBC were well and truly out of it, eventually registering only a solitary win in the Ladies’ Pairs when Manal Kamran and Zahra Currimbhoy crossed the line ahead of Sanchia Supramanium and Aneesha Gunasekera.
The Colombo Rowing Club's Ladies' Fours team. Pic by Susantha Liyanawatte
Karachi did not fare any better in the men’s division, with their lone success appearing in the Men’s Single Sculls race where Hassan Currimbhoy blew to the finish 10 seconds ahead of Shehan Muthugala.
However, despite the one-sided nature of this maiden clash, a pair of pulsating men’s encounters whipped the home crowd to life. The first came in the Men’s Double Sculls when Sajeev De Silva and Shehan Muthugala of CRC glided to victory a mere two seconds ahead of Amin Khawaja and Hassan Currimbhoy.
The next and final nail-biter of the day occurred when CRC’s Zhydney Fazal and Chamal Jayanetti just edged Imran Khan and Azeem Adamjee for the win in the Men’s Pairs. Both teams rowed into the home stretch neck and neck and were so close crossing the line that at first most spectators thought that the visitors had narrowly snatched victory. But that was not to be, and disappointingly for KBC all their frantic finish earned them was a rescue from the Beira’s reeds, after they tore deep into them upon crossing the line.
The CRC’s men and women also rowed their boats to straightforward victories in both Fours event. For the men, Peter Christy (Cox), Sanjiva Jayasuriya, Sajeev de Silva, Shehan Muthugala and Manilka Guneratne got the better of Muhammad Rehan (Cox), Azeem Adamjee, Imran Khan, Amin Khawaja and Sultan Khawaja while CRC’s ladies crew comprising Shiyanka De Zylva, Amani Tissera, Ishika De Silva, Subhashini Kularatne and Peter Christy (Cox) pelted to the finish eight seconds ahead of Salma Arif, Manal Kamran, Aleena Abid, Zahra Currimbhoy and Muhammad Rehan.
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