PUNE: Has India made a mess of its Asian Games rowing selection by excluding sure-shot medal women rowers from the list for Aichi-Nagoya next month? The government’s overzealous attitude towards pruning the Indian contingent has has hit rowing as well.The women’s rowing teams of Suman Devi and Diljot Kaur in pairs and Bharati Devi Oinam and Priya Devi Thangjam in double sculls have fallen victim to the sports ministry’s stance of sticking to selection criteria based on past results and ignoring recent form and potential backed by sports science.“The women’s 2-minus (pairs) team have gone better than the medal timings of the last Asian Games. Whatever timings the government set, they achieved it nowhere other than at the World Cup,” national federation (RFI) president Balaji Maradappa told TOI.Three years ago in Hangzhou, the women’s pairs bronze was clinched by South Korea’s Kim Ha-yeong and Lee Soo-bin in seven minutes and 51.14 seconds. Suman and Diljit clocked 7:36.17 in Final C at World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland, in June.On the other hand, Bharati and Priya won bronze at the Asian Rowing Cup in Chungju, Korea, in April. A medal in a continental or international regatta in the past year is another selection criterion set by the ministry. Balaji said that the rowers across boats were being trained to peak at the Asian Games and as such they would be only recording faster timings in the coming races.
