India's Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh on Sunday qualified for the men's lightweight double sculls semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics after finishing third in the repechage round. The Indian duo clocked 6:51.36 to finish third at the Sea Forest Waterway. Poland's Jerzy Kowalski and Artur Mikolajczewski finished at the top with a timing of 6:43.44, followed by Spain's Caetano Horta Pombo and Manel Balastegui, who clocked 6:45.71 in the repechage 2. "We followed exactly whatever had been told to us by our coach. The coach told us that we should try to get the best position for India.
"It's (rowing) not a very popular sport in India. So our coach told us that getting to the semifinals is also a big motivation for us, and we had to do our best," the duo said.
Arjun assumes the role of the bower while Arvind is the team's stroker. The two had finished fifth in their heats on Saturday.
The event includes two rowers in a scull boat using two oars each. The long, narrow and broadly semi-circular in cross-section boats helps to reduce the drag.
The maximum weight set for each male competitor is 72.5kg and the average weight cannot exceed 70 kg.
The semifinals will be on July 27.