Rowing has been an ancient sport in India with less spectators and participants showing interest. It all started back in 1858 when Calcutta Rowing Club was established. Henceforth, the nation has seen quality rowers with very high endurance, but this is the second time in history that the Indian rowers won medals at Asian Games.
Dattu Bhonakal arguably one of the best rowers in Asia who hails from Maharashtra, lived up to expectations as he made a strong comeback from being 5th at Icheon to winning Gold with his Fours team. The Men’s fours consisted of Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh, clocked 6:17.13 to win the gold medal. India also bagged two bronze medals in the sport through Rohit Kumar and Bhagwan Singh in double sculls.
On the other hand, Dushyant Singh finished at the third place in Men’s single sculls, who was abnormally suffering from high blood pressure and heart rate before the match. He decided to participate despite not being able to breathe. He was immediately taken to the hospital as the situation was severe after the race but his commitment for his nation is commendable.
Nonetheless, Rowing Federation of India has been doing a great job to uplift Rowing in India by regularly organizing State, Open National, School level tournaments which have surely resulted in the betterment of the Sport.
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