Rower Dattu in quarters of Rio men's singles sculls

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 6 (IANS) Dattu Bhokanal gave India's Rio Olympics campaign a rousing start as he reached the quarter-finals of the men's single sculls rowing after finishing third here on Saturday.  

In the first heat of the day, Bhokanal finished the 2000 metres in seven minutes and 21.67 seconds at the Lagoa Stadium here.   The 25-year-old is the sole Indian in the event. He was in second place for the first 500 metres of the race but started to lag behind once the Mexican in lane 2 picked up the pace around the 700 metres mark.   Cuba's Angel Fournier Rodriguez finished first clocking 7:06.89 followed by Mexico's Juan Carlos (7:08.27).