Diyawanna to host 34th Rowing Nationals
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Teams from armed forces dominated last year - File pic
After the successful conclusion of Junior and Intermediate National Rowing Championship 2019, the Diyawanna Rowing Centre will gear up to host the 34th National Rowing Championship in less than couple of weeks.
This year’s National Championships takes a unique turn, as the event is conducted in two segments; Junior and Intermediate and Open whereas in all previous years the National Championships was combined under age categories and open.
By the segregation of the championships to two main segments, the up and coming junior rowers will earn the rare opportunity to improve their standard and even qualify for the National Rowing squad. The open event, the 34th National Rowing Championships, will be conducted from February 28 to March 2 over the magnificent 2000metre rowing course.
This year, the enthusiasm and competitiveness have increased by leaps and bounds. A total of 342 athletes took part in the Junior and Intermediate Championships with 250 out of them are youngsters from 11 schools.
In the previous years, the Rowing Nationals consisted only of Under-18, Over-18 and Open categories. The new championship format induces and promotes rowing from a tender age and groom the youngsters to show their talent at an event of their own.
“It will also act as a progression event with the racing distances pegged at 500 metres for Under-14, 1000 metres for Under-16 and 2000metre full course for Under-18 categories. The Under-18 category will be the platform for the national coaches to choose athletes to represent Sri Lanka at all international junior competitions,” the Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka, issuing a press release, stated.
“The intermediate category was segregated from the previous format and allowed a new category in the first stage of the championships for athletes over 18 years of age. Newcomers to the sport have also received a competitive opportunity to progress to the Open elite championships in the latter part of the month. This category is where the universities clubs and tri-forces will have opportunities to make the new entrants eligible to participate in the senior open championship. Not forgetting the importance of this category, the intermediate will carry its own championship status.”
The upcoming senior championship will give the elite oarsman and oarswomen a chance to showcase their skills. The senior championship is an open category where any athlete who feels they can perform on the full 2kilometre course can participate. There will be 112 races in whole, rowed four crews abreast at a time.
In raising the standards of the senior or elite category, minimum, pre-competition timing will be an eligibility criteria. The winners will be deemed as the Best Senior Athletes of the nation and will be invited to the national squad for selection to represent Sri Lanka at international events.
All racing formalities for the Junior, Intermediate and Senior National Championships will be according to FISA, the international governing body for rowing, guidelines.