Azerbaijani canoe sprinter wins silver in Rio

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani canoe sprinter Valentin Demyanenko has won the silver medal in men’s canoe single 200 m at the Rio Olympics 2016.

His result was 39.493 seconds.

Ukraine’s Yuriy Cheban has won the gold medal, while Brazil’s Isaquias Queiroz has taken the bronze medal.

“Silver is a good result, but not for me,” said Valentine commenting after the contest.  “The race was very hard and rivals were very strong.” 
 
“I am engaged in rowing since 15 years, and have spent more than half of life in this sport. A distance of 200 meters is not included at the next Olympics in Tokyo. So I will have to either retrain or to finish my career. Now, I do not think about it,” he said.  

This is Azerbaijan's eighth medal (four silver and four bronze) in the Rio Olympic Games. Earlier, judokas Rustam Orudjev (73kg) and Elmar Gasimov (100kg), female wrestler Maria Stadnik (48kg) took silver.

Bronze medals were claimed by Greco-Roman wrestler Sabah Shariati (130 kg), rower Inna Osypenko-Radomska, who took the Olympic bronze in women’s 200 meters kayak single, Greco-roman wrestler Rasul Chunayev (66 kg) and female taekwondo fighter Patimat Abakarova. 

Fifty-six athletes are representing Azerbaijan at the 2016 Summer Olympics, underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The games, which kicked off on Aug. 5, will end on Aug. 21, and will be followed by the 15th Summer Paralympic Games on Sept. 7-18.