Kipelian Timoi Itaken finished sixth overall in category B final of men’s single scull rowing at the ongoing Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yesterday.
The-29-year-old paddled to end the hotly contested 1,000m final in 5:39.22. The event was held at the pristine Lagowa stadium located at the heart of Rio.
Even though he came last in the final that was won by Alexander Van Holk of Netherlands in 5:04.94, Itaken was happy to have made it to the end of the competition, which he termed rare and beyond the reach of many Kenyans.
“I have gathered enough experience here in Rio which I believe will help me create more awareness of this water sport,” he said.
Fabrizio Casselli of Italy who was just two microseconds away from beating Holk, bagged silver in 5:06.37 while Park Jun Ha of Korea won bronze in 5:08.78.
The single scull-rowing category A finals was won by Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine who waded through the 1,000m contest to set up a personal best of 4:39.56.
Race favourite Erik Horrie of Australia settled for silver after Polianskyi beat him by three seconds to the gold. Tom Aggar of Britain won bronze in 4:50.90.