Lightweight Races

The lightweight races were two days later. The day began with a thunderstorm that blew the hyacinths right onto the course. After some initial panic the Sri Lankan Navy boats cleared the course and the wind died down for the first race of the day, the men's single. It loked close, but at the end the Indian sculler rowed away and pulled quite an upset over Akram, the favored rower. The double went next and ran into trouble by being hit by a wash at the start and pushed into the bouy line. They never recovered and raced behind the Indians all the way to the finish. The four, which was one of my greatest pride, also could not keep up with the Indian crew and had to settle for second. It seemed we were out of shape in every event. The four days of inactivity that the itinerary had forced on us had exacted a toll.