CHENNAI: It turned out to be a good day for Indian rowers at the 25th Asian Rowing Championships in Hai Phong, Vietnam as they won two gold and as many silver medals on Saturday. Ajay Tyagi and Lakshay won gold in the lightweight men's double sculls while Satnam Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Navdeep Singh and Jakar Khan won the yellow metal in the men's four quadruple sculls.
Gurbani Kaur and Diljot Kaur won silver in the lightweight women's pair. Incidentally, the medal is the first for Indian women at the continental championships after 13 years. Besides, the Indian rowers also finished second in the men's eight event. The team comprised Nitin Deol, Parvinder Singh, Lakhveer Singh, Ravi, Gurpratap Singh, Bheem Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Kulbir, Kiran Singh Maimom.
Given the selection criteria for individuals and teams for participation in the 2026 Asian Games, Para-Asian Games 2026 and other multisports events laid out by the sports ministry recently, India have attained qualification in two events — lightweight men's double sculls and men's four quadruple sculls.
Abhinav Bhatnagar, head coach of Indian Navy, congratulated the medal winners and was particularly happy for Satnam Singh as the rower trains under him. "We were beaten by Uzbekistan for second place at the 2023 Asian Games. We have avenged that loss to some extent by pushing them to the second position," Satnam told this daily.
Indian rowers were beaten by their Uzbekistan counterparts in heats of the lightweight double sculls but Ajay and Lakshay made up for that loss by beating them in the finals.