China may not be a favourite for Indian sports in general but for the rowers, it has been a happy hunting ground. With five medals in the 19th Asian Games here which equalled their previous best-ever performance, the Indians are now hoping for bigger success.
India finished with two silvers and three bronze in rowing to equal its 2010 tally at Guangzhou, adding two bronze on Monday in the men’s Four and Quadruple Sculls. And while Balraj Panwar came agonisingly close before falling short to finish fourth in the Single Sculls, it was heartening for someone who was not even considered for the Games before being added as a late entry.
“My coaches and the federation pushed a lot to get my event included. The IOA had initially not considered single sculls but coaches Bajrang (Lal Takhar) and Ismail sir insisted I was doing well in my time trials during training. I am happy I gave everything I had out there to get a personal best timing,” Panwar told The Hindu.
It was heartbreak for the Indian quartet of Ashish, Punit Kumar, Bhim Singh and Jaswinder Singh as they were nudged out of the second spot by China by 0.78s in the men’s Four event.
“We had tried to beat the Chinese from the start and it was all going according to plan but a mistake in the last 20 metres cost us a silver. There was a crosswind which forced us to go off course and one of our oars got stuck in the buoy. We lost those crucial microseconds and our silver turning to bronze,” Punit admitted.
With vocal crowd support, the Chinese nipped ahead while Uzbekistan won a comfortable gold. That it was one of only two silvers won by the Chinese — along with 11 golds — shows the dominance of the host in the water and challenging them was a morale-booster.
“This will probably hurt me for a long time. Hopefully, the coming generations will take strength from this and realise that we have the potential to defeat China in future competitions,” Punit hoped.
The Quadruple Sculls added another bronze as the rowers recovered from a disappointing finish of sixth the day before in the Double Sculls with both Satnam Singh and Parminder Singh admitting it had been a testing night before.
“I have taken part in World Cups before, I even have a medal at the 2022 Asian Championships. But the environment here, the pride I felt was tremendous. Every minute felt like an hour last night. But we gave everything we had today to the point that we don’t have anything left in us now,” Parminder said.
“We were in the clear for a silver yesterday but when I turned to my side, I felt a twist in my neck and my body just shut down. Only we know how worried we were through the night. But the crew today had faith in me. We spoke about trying a different combination but they all wanted me to race today and I am glad I could keep their faith,” an exhausted Satnam added.
