HYDERABAD: Being in a sport as neglected as rowing is a hard task for anyone, let alone rowers. Braving adversities like practising on the polluted waters of Hussainsagar lake, these selfless rowers still have a smile on their faces every morning.
Despite having to face the relentless attack of mosquitoes at night, the rowers, most of who are from the Services Sports Promotion Board, work hard for years and their perseverance has finally borne fruit. As they travel to South Korea on September 15 for the 17th Asian Games, they hope to better their 2010 Asian Games’ record of one gold, three silver and one bronze medal. They have an inspiration in Bajrang Lal Takhar as well, who has the distinction of winning India’s first rowing gold at the Asian Games.
When the rowing centre was established here a few years ago, the rowers barely had any facilities. They had to contribute themselves to set up a recreation room with help from the Rowing Federation of India. Former president of RFI CP Singh Deo has enough reason to be proud of his charges. “Our rowers are self-made sportspersons. They fight all odds but come out victorious, always returning with a haul of medals,” he said.
Chief coach Ismail Baig is confident they will get at least two or three gold at Chungju, a city situated at a distance of 160 kilometres from Incheon/Seoul (the main village).
Guangzhou Games gold medallist Bajrang, participating in his fourth Asiad, agrees. “It’ll be good to add one more gold to my kitty. We’ve trained hard and I don’t see any reason why we can’t win more medals. The women’s squad is also working very hard and I expect them also to win,” said the 33-year-old.
India opened their account in the Asian Games with a bronze in 1982 and the bronze streak continued till 2002, before breaking the jinx in Doha in 2006, when they struck silver through Bajrang. The evergreen rower went one better by clinching gold, while India also won three silver and one bronze, at Guangzhou in 2010, for their best ever return. “It was a huge moment for Indian rowing. Bajrang was unstoppable. He’s the Sachin Tendulkar of Indian rowing. Even at 33, he is as energetic as ever, the first at any training session,” noted Baig. Hailing from the village of Maganpur in Rajasthan, Bajrang reveals rowing was a strange sport to his people. “When I first won silver in the 2006 Asian Games, there was not much reaction since they didn’t know what the sport was and where it was held. But when I showed them the gold medal, they realized it was a big thing,” said the veteran. Coach Baig has pinned hopes on the young rowers, among who Sawaran Singh and Dushyant are the big hopes.