Cedar prepare to defend interschool rowing title

Team will try to fend off competition from different institutions of Karachi

KARACHI: Cedar College will begin their title defence at the 11th Annual Interschool Rowing Regatta as the competitions will start from Sunday, while the opening ceremony took place on Saturday evening at the Karachi Boat Club (KBC).

According to the KBC secretary Major Tariq Shafi the event will be featuring different schools of Karachi, with roughly 300 students competing in different categories, while around 60 per cent of the competitors are girls.

"The percentage of girls participating in the competitions has increased over the years," Shafi told The Express Tribune.

Cedar College became the first school to end the dominance of Karachi Grammar School that had won the previous nine editions of the Annual Interschool Rowing Regatta before last year.

Shafi added that the KBC facilities are open for the rowers throughout the week, while the schools have been training for more than four months for the event.

"The Interschool Rowing Regatta is the most anticipated event by the students of the School Rowing program of Pakistan and is the one for which they begin training months before the event," an event press release stated.

The indoor events will take place on Sunday, while the open heats will begin on February 1 stretching over two days with final on February 3.