FUYANG (Hangzhou): Notorious for being historically late starters at multi-event Games, India found itself a deserving claimant for an early-bird prize as they landed three silver and two bronze on the opening day here.
Rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh were among the first to get off the blocks among the 655-strong Indian contingent, its largest-ever at any Games, to get written onto the medallists’ list when they caused minor eddies in the placid waters of the Fuyang Water Sports Centre which other Indians then rode upon.
But in some strange in-house bragging rights contest, it was not them and their silver in the lightweight doubles sculls but the shooting girls in the women’s 10m rifle who landed India’s first medals at the Hangzhou Games on Sunday. Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Ashi Chouksey bagged the women’s team silver while Ramita clinched an individual bronze. More on that later, first, the men with the paddles.
At the Fuyang waters, the Olympian duo was improving on India’s bronze in the same event at the Jakarta Games of 2018. The historic silver came courtesy of an impressive timing of 6:28.18, in a race where the Chinese pair of Junjie Fan and Man Sun (6.23.16) reigned supreme. The Uzbek duo of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev (6.33.42) finished third.
Yet, despite the euphoria, you could sense there were mixed feelings as far as the finish was concerned. Coaches felt that the gold was well within reach since they had previously achieved the timings clocked by the Chinese pair during the Army Rowing Node’s time trials and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. But the Chinese were in another zone altogether, killing off the competition by racing away from the pack at the 750m mark.
“We couldn’t win gold but it feels good to know that no Indian had won silver in men’s doubles sculls before,” said Arjun later. “I have wanted to win an Asiad medal ever since the time I came into rowing. Whenever I practised, I would think to myself about winning a Games medal. The colour doesn’t matter,” he added.
Still, buoyed by the wave created by the twin A’s – Arjun and Arvind -- the men’s eight team later secured another silver in an event that has been introduced at these Games. Charanjeet Singh, DU Pande, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neeraj, Neetesh Kumar, Ashish, Bheem Singh, Jaswinder Singh and Punit Kumar finished with a timing of 5:43.01. China clinched gold in 5:40.17 while Indonesia, who were leading India at the halfway mark, finished third in 5:45.51 in Final A.
“It was a great race for us. Our target was not to neglect main teams like Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Japan. We wanted to build pressure on them and then target China for the win,” said Dhananjay, the team cox.
In the men’s pair final, Babu Lal and Lekh secured a creditable bronze to take the country’s medal tally to three in rowing competition at the Asiad. The duo won the bronze in 6:50.41. China pocketed the gold in 6:44.20, while Uzbekistan took home the silver in 6:48.11. “We tried our best at the end of the race but unfortunately fell short. Yet, I had goosebumps watching the Tricolour go up slowly on the podium,” Babu Lal said later.
But that was all as far as the podium finishes went. Indian rowers participated in three more finals later in the day but couldn’t repeat the feats of their fellow medal winners. In the men’s double sculls final, India’s Satnam Singh and Parminder Singh started on a strong note and were in contention for a silver till the 1500m-mark before losing their way in the final 500m to finish sixth with a timing of 6:40.90.
The women’s four team of Aswathi PB, Mrunamayee Nilesh S, Thangjam Priya Devi and Rukmani finished fifth (7:12.40), while the Indian duo of Kiran and Anshika Bharti settled for 10th place with a timing of 7:40.84 in Final B of the women’s lightweight double sculls.
Monday will further see Indian presence in the finals with Balraj Panwar in the men’s singles sculls finals and a team each in the Four Final and Quadruple Sculls Final. The women’s team will compete in the eight finals.
On Sunday, Arjun and Arvind led for the first 500m of the race, clocking 1.40.01 and offering a tough challenge to China. The Chinese pair overtook the Indians at the 750m-mark and, thereafter, the standings never changed, which the Indians finishing 5.02 seconds behind.
“We had been training for this continuously for the past four years. We had made it to the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as well. It was unfortunate that Arvind got injured which disrupted our training. Luckily, he recovered in time and we were able to win this historic medal,” revealed Arjun.
Arvind, of the doubles sculls silver fame, admitted that his back felt stiff after a gruelling race. It was no surprise. He was returning from a nearly two-month long lower back injury layoff and it was only a month ago that he resumed practicing with Arjun. “Our aim was to win gold but because of my injury, I wasn’t able to push myself as much. Even during the trials, I was battling this injury. I went to Hyderabad for treatment and the physio there really worked on getting me back in good shape. I resumed practice a month ago and only because of that have I been able to win this silver medal,” he said.
Both Naib Subedars with the Indian army, the duo had won gold at the 2022 Asian championships and finished 11th overall in Tokyo giving India’s best-ever finish in any rowing event at the Summer Games.
