HYDERABAD: Indian rowers could not win a single gold medal but returned home with a rich haul of five silver and two bronze medals in the men’s section in the just-concluded Asian Rowing Championship held at Beijing.
Dominated by hosts China, who clinched 15 gold medals out of the 16 events, Indian rowers were unlucky to lose a majority of their events by narrow margins. The other gold was bagged by Iran. According to coach Ismail Baig, India finished second in the overall standings.
With a time of 6:03.25s, the men’s four (M4) team of Kapil Sharma, Jaswinder Singh, Rajesh Varma and Mohammad Azad bagged a silver medal. Datta Baba Bhokanal rowed to a silver medal in men’s singles sculls with a time of 7:18.41s.
Vikram Singh and Shokendar Tomar cruised to a silver medal-winning performance as they clocked 6:41.59s in light weight double sculls.
Roopendra Singh and Sonu Laxmi Narin took silver in men’s doubles sculls with a time of 6:41.74s. The team of Davinder Singh, Naveen Kumar Borraiya, Suchcha Singh Tomer, Gurinder Singh, Kapil Sharma, Jaswinder Singh, Rajesh Verma, Mohd Azad and Lakshman Rohith Maradapa landed India their fifth silver in men’s eight event.
Dushyant Chauhan, who was hampered by a ligament injury, rowed bravely to capture bronze in light weight men’s singles sculls with a time of 7:03.55s. Davinder and Naveen gave India a bronze in the men’s pairs event (6:46.64s).