KOLKATA: With the national games slated to begin in two months, Kolkata rowing clubs are racing against time to arrange speedboats — the only requirement listed on the 11-point police SOP — before rowing activities at Rabindra Sarobar can resume after a gap of 50 days. On Sunday, Calcutta Rowing Club held a trial with a 9.9 HP German engine, which runs on a large and heavy 48Volt lithium ion battery, as club authorities took note of the timing — 5 minutes and 22 seconds — to cover the longest stretch (900m) of the Lake. Unhappy with the output, the club has called for another trial with a more powerful boat later this week.
This was the fourth time in 10 days that a rowing club at Rabindra Sarobar organised a speedboat trial to meet the criteria. “We are already racing against time to prepare our athletes for the national games starting from September. If we can’t fix a speedboat and get it working, rowing activities cannot resume. We are trying to sort the issue by this week,” said Debu Datta, joint secretary of Lake Club.
