ROWERS ROAR
Armymen snatch a gold and two bronzes
Gold medallists of the Indian rowing team Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh show their medals during the presentation ceremony for the Men’s Quadruple Sculls event at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Friday. India also bagged two bronze medals in rowing through Rohit Kumar & Bhagwan Singh and Dushyant Chauhan. Tennis top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won the men’s doubles gold while shooter Heena Sidhu settled for a bronze. Indian women also managed a silver in kabaddi.
Palembang, Aug. 24: The Indian rowing contingent redeemed itself by winning three medals, including a historic gold in quadruple sculls, on the final day of the competition at the 18th Asian Games here.
The rowers had to overcome an unexpected and disastrous outing on Thursday, when they were in contention for four medals, to ensure that India doesn’t return home empty handed from the Jakabaring lake.
All Armymen, most of them from humble background, fought with the never-say-die spirit that soldiers are best known for. They pushed their boats as if there was no tomorrow.
“Yesterday we had a bad day but soldiers never give up. I told my teammates that we will go for the gold and we will give it our all. And we did it,” Sawarn Singh, senior most member of the gold-winning quadruple sculls team said.
The other members of the team were Sukhmeet Singh, who like Sawarn is from Mansa district in Punab, Dattu Bhokanal and Om Prakash.
Dushyant Chauhan, bronze medallist in lightweight single sculls at Incheon, defended his third place in the event.
Courtesy Bhagwan Singh and Rohit Kumar, India won another bronze in men’s lightweight double sculls.
Bhagwan is a son of a truck driver who had to quit journalism in the second year and join Indian Army due to financial issues.
Dushyant, who is now an experienced rower, gave his all quite literally. The energy sapping dash in the final 500 metres led to him being carried on a stretcher to the medical centre. He was so drained out that he could not stand properly during the medal ceremony. Minutes later he threw up, prompting the doctors to rush him to the medical centre.
“I pushed as if it was the last race of my life. That was the only thing in the mind. May be I pushed a bit too hard but it was worth it. I had a bad cold and throat in the run up to the event, that also affected me a lot during the race. I was gone,” said Dushyant, who had not eaten much in the morning breakfast ahead of the race as they all have to maintain weight (72kg).
“I just had two breads and an apple. It was very hot also. That is why I was completely dehydrated,” added the 25-year-old who lives in Gurgaon.
In the quadruple sculls, it was a lot more than just a race for the experienced Bhokanal and Sawarn.
Bhokanal had to win it for his late mother while Sawarn had to do it to know if he still had gas left in the tank.