BANGALORE, June 2: Prem Kumar Rai was the toast of the first day's finals (10,000 metres) at the kayaking and canoeing events in the fourth National Games at the Ulsoor Lake today. He won the gold medal in the single and two-man class and silver in the four-man final.

Karnataka won their third gold medal in the canoeing single (C1) when Bago Ram swept past the field to win in 4:16.71. Karnataka won another silver the second coming in canoeing two-hander. Delhi was the other dominant state today. They won four medals - two gold medals and two silvers.

Maharaj and Rai began the day's finals with victory in kayaking 2, finishing 33 seconds ahead of Delhi's P K Baroi and Ravin Singh. UP pair of K S Raji and Ashish Shrivastava won the bronze.

Bago Ram won the second gold medal for the hosts in the canoeing single-hander. He finished ahead of Johnny Rommel of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with Rajesh Kurein of Kerala bagging the bronze.

Karnataka were denied a hat-trick of gold medals when Delhi's Piyush Kant Baro, John Verghese, Ranveer Singh and P Vinod finshed two seconds ahead of Karnataka's Mag Singh, K P Mohan, S Maharaj and Rai. Haryana bagged the bronze.

Sajhi Kumar and Philip Mathew won gold for Delhi, when they crossed the finished line 10 seconds ahead of Karnataka's Sonny Joseph and Hari Kumar in canoeing two-hander. Haryana's K Maheshwaran and Subhash Singh won the bronze.

Rai won the last event of the day when he won the kayaking single with Delhi's Baroi coming behind him.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.