KOLKATA: With the national games slated to begin in two months, Kolkata rowing clubs are racing against time to arrange speedboats — the only requirement listed on the 11-point police SOP — before rowing activities at Rabindra Sarobar can resume after a gap of 50 days. On Sunday, Calcutta Rowing Club held a trial with a 9.9 HP German engine, which runs on a large and heavy 48Volt lithium ion battery, as club authorities took note of the timing — 5 minutes and 22 seconds — to cover the longest stretch (900m) of the Lake. Unhappy with the output, the club has called for another trial with a more powerful boat later this week.
This was the fourth time in 10 days that a rowing club at Rabindra Sarobar organised a speedboat trial to meet the criteria. “We are already racing against time to prepare our athletes for the national games starting from September. If we can’t fix a speedboat and get it working, rowing activities cannot resume. We are trying to sort the issue by this week,” said Debu Datta, joint secretary of Lake Club.
Chandan Roy Chowdhury of CRC said, “We are already very late. There has been no rowing at the Lake in nearly two months. We are trying our best to fix a speedboat at the earliest.”
Gujarat will host the national games from September 27 — being held after a gap of seven years. The Bengal rowing team recently won medals in five different events, including two Golds, at a national championship in Kashmir. “We had a spirited show in the recent national championship, but national games are different. Some of us are even losing reflexes and fitness due to lack of practice. We hope rowing resumes soon,” said a rower.
According to a rowing club official, the SOP doesn’t clarify if the boat is to run on electricity or fuel. “Ideally, we need a boat that can cover 500m in one-and-half minutes and 900m in two-and-a-half minutes, which is difficult to attain for a battery-operated speedboat,” said a senior member of West Bengal Rowing Association.
