India's Dattu Bhokanal put in a strong performance in his heat to qualify for the quarterfinals. The Maharashtra army man finished third behind Cuba's Angel Fournier Rodriguez and Mexico's Juan Carlos Cabrera.
Bhokanal started the event on a strong note by getting the best start of the six. He pulled away but Fournier Rodriguez caught up with him after the 500m mark and the Mexican soon followed at the next mark. Bhokanal was widely expected to qualify for the further rounds and he's done so in a confident manner.
More about the event: Single sculls involves rowers using two oars on either side of their boat. They're to compete with a maximum of five other rowers over a span of two kilometres. In the heats, the first three qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament. The bottom three are relegated to the repechages – where they have another chance in making it into the quarter-finals.
The top two in the repechages make it into the quarter-finals while the rest are eliminated from the tournament. In the quarter-final rounds, the top three from each round qualify for the A/B semifinals while the bottom three head into the C/D semifinals. Six semifinals will be held with two for each of A/B, C/D and E/F. For each semifinal race, the top three boats move on to the better of the two finals, while the bottom three boats qualify for the lesser of the two finals possible.
The A finals is the medal round and ranking up to sixth in the world. Finals B will be from 7th to 12th and so on.
Bhokanal's quarterfinal round will be held on August 9th at 5 PM.
