Rohit and Bhagwan hunt bronze in pair

PALEMBANG: They say in cricket, fast bowlers hunt in pairs. In rowing too, it is similar.

At the Jakabaring Rowing Centre, Bhagwan Singh, son of a truck driver, and his ‘buddy’ Rohit Kumar earned India a bronze medal in men’s lightweight double sculls, as the 34-member rowing contingent completed its engagement here with one gold and two bronze medals.

For someone doing Bachelors in Journalism from Chandigarh, rowing seems an unlikely sport. But when one has to earn a livelihood, everything goes for a toss, says Bhagwan.

His partner Rohit, from Panchkula in Haryana, was given only four months by Romanian coach Gioga Nicolae to forge a medalwinning partnership. “Double sculls is very technical and tougher than the rest of the rowing events, as the co-ordination has to be perfect,” said Bhagwan, soon after the bronze medal-winning performance with a time of 7:04.61 min.

The duo looked good for silver till the 1500m mark when the South Korean combination of Kim Byung-hoon and Lee Minhyuk broke away, but as has been the bane of the Indian rowing contingent, they were unable to provide the final flourish.

However, what struck most about the duo was their camaraderie. “One of the key requirements of double sculls is you have to be on the same page as your partner... think like him, do the same number of push-ups like him, eat almost the same amount of calories and have the same amount of sleep,” says Bhagwan, the 25-year-old from Moga district in Punjab.

“If Rohit is asked to work on a particular muscle, I too have to work on that. A slight laxity, or a breach of discipline by anyone of us, can have detrimental effect,” said Bhagwan as they embraced one another after winning bronze.