Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], August 22 (ANI): SAI Rowing Chief Coach, High Performance Director, and former Olympian PT Paulose on Friday praised the Khelo India Water Games Festival 2025, which is currently underway at the iconic Dal Lake in Srinagar.

He said that such competitions give birth to new athletes.

36 states and Union Territories took part in the first-ever Games, which was an open-age category meet. This water sports carnival is the second Khelo India event in J-K after the Khelo India Winter Games held in Gulmarg.

'There is a lot of improvement in equipment and competition exposure. SAI, under its programmes for foreign exposure, is letting players go overseas for training and competition. Such competitions give birth to new athletes,' Paulose told ANI.

'This is very good because all the water sports, kayaking, canoeing, are happening at the same time at the same place. This has given a chance to players to mingle with each other. Several elite-level athletes did not attend due to the Asian Games camp and the upcoming Asian Championships. So several young players are getting a chance to mingle with each other and other talent,' he added.

Madhya Pradesh made a clean sweep of all four gold medals at stake on Day 2 of the Khelo India Water Sports Festival here at the Dal Lake on Friday. Hosts Jammu and Kashmir added a silver to their overnight tally while two more silvers left Odisha at No. 2 in the medal standings.

On another warm day, all four finals in canoeing and kayaking were scheduled in the second half of the day. Madhya Pradesh, a major force in water sports, won its first gold medal in the men's 500m kayaking doubles and never looked back after that to go No. 1 on the standings.

RESULTS (All finals)Kayaking - K2 500m Men: 1. Aditya Singh and Manjeet (Madhya Pradesh) 01.41.59 sec 2. Shantosh Khwairakpam and Naoram James Singh (Odisha) 01:44.50 3. Vishal Dangi and Aditya Saini (Uttarakhand) 01.45.20 sec.

Canoeing - C2 500m Men: 1. Sudhir Kumar and Prince Goswami (Madhya Pradesh) 01:50.94 secs 2. Mohammad Hussain and Sajad Hussain (J&K) 01.52.61 sec 3. Pradeep Kumar and Abhay (Uttar Pradesh) 01.53.99 sec. Kayaking - K1 500m Women: 1. Dally Bishnoi (Madhya Pradesh) 02.11.09 sec 2. Pukhrambamroji Devi (Uttarakhand) 02.14.06 sec 3. Nikita Sarkar (Kerala) 02.22.15 sec.

Kayaking - K2 500m Women: 1. Niharika Singh and Chandrakala Kushwaha 02.04.64 sec 2. Bidya Devi Oinam and Shruti Tanaji Chougule (Odisha) 02.08.10 3. Arathy Renjith and Heera Alphons (Kerala) 02.09.65 sec. (ANI)