India fourth in Asian kayaking

Reigning champions China won 19 gold medals to retain the overall title while hosts India finished fourth with four golds in the Asian Kayaking and Canoeing Championships which concluded in Bhopal on Saturday.

China clinched four more gold and two silver medals on the last day of the four-day extravaganza to finish on the top of the table with a total of 28 medals (19 gold, five silver and four bronze).

Placed next to the China was Japan, who bagged the highest number medals, 31. Japan finished second as they won only 12 gold medals against China's 19.

Iran, the runners-up in the last edition, were relegated to the third spot with a medal tally of 29, including ten gold, 15 silver and four bronze.

Spurred by the spectacular performance of its junior participants, India finished fourth in the overall tally after adding two more bronze medals to their kitty today.

It was the best ever showing by India, who grabbed 17 medals, including four gold, four silver and nine bronze.

India's two bronze medals today came in the K-1 (Karma Topo) and C-2 (S Kumar and Sanjit Singh). Both the events were in 200 metres senior men category.

Indonesia bagged a total of 19 medals including one gold, nine silver and nine bronze to occupy the fifth place followed by Macau with one gold and two silver medals.

However, teams from Hong Kong failed to win even a single medal in the championship while Singapore opened its account on the closing day winning a bronze medal.

War-ravaged Iraq, who made a last minute entry, captured as many as three medals including one silver and two bronze.