Pune, Feb 22 (IANS): Olympian Arjun Lal Jat along with international medalists Sukhmeet and Hav Narayan qualified for the semifinals in their respective events on a hectic opening day of the 40th Senior and 24th Open Sprint National Rowing Championships 2023 at the Army Rowing Node, on Wednesday.

In the 54-races card lined up for the day, 2022 Tokyo Olympian Arjun alongside Ajay Tyagi clocked 7 minutes 03.29 seconds to top the time charts in the LightWeight Men's Doubles Sculls (LM2X) event.

Later it was the turn of 2018 Asian Games Quad gold medalist Sukhmeet to make it to two semifinals. In the Double Sculls (M2X) event, Sukhmeet, in company of Jakkar Khan, clocked 7:01.30s to stand out. Likewise, in the Quadruple Sculls (M4X), Sukhmeet powered his team which included Jakkar Arwinder and Salman to a 6:34.77s finish to make the last-4.

In the Open Double Sculls (M2X) event, rookie pair of Parminder and Shagandeep of the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) powered to a 7:07.55s finish.

Meanwhile, 2022 Poland World Rowing Cup bronze medalist Hav Narayana Konganapalle booked his berth in the finals of the Para Men Single Sculls (PR3M1X) event clocking an impressive 8:30.21s.

The day had 20 women and 34 men heats conducted.