Asian Games 2023: Meet Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh, who won silver medals for India in rowing | Asian-games News
The Indian campaign at the Asian Games in Hangzhou started off brightly, with two silver medals coming within minutes of each other. While the Indian women’s rifle shooters won a silver medal in the 10m air rifle team event, the rowing duo of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh also claimed a silver.
The Indian rowers finished second behind the Chinese pairing of Junjie Fan and Man Sun in the lightweight men’s double sculls event with 26-year-old Arjun on the bow and 27-year-old Arvind on the stroke.
The silver medal was a big deal for the duo, especially since Arvind was nursing a serious back injury for the last two months, which had hampered their training severely.
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Who is Arjun Lal Jat?
Arjun Lal Jat hails from the Nayabas village of Churu drict in Rajasthan. He comes from a family of farmers. He came across rowing while serving in the Indian Army, which he had joined in 2017. He says he had no knowledge about the sport until Bajranglal Takhar introduced him and his rowing partner Aravind Singh to the sport.
He has served in the Rajputana Rifles regiment of the Indian Army as a junior commissioned officer, and currently trains at the Army Rowing Node in Pune.
Arjun had gained weight after the Tokyo Olympics, which meant he and his partner were unable to compete in the lightweight double sculls at the 2021 Asian Championships. Most Read
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Who is Arvind Singh?
Just like his partner in the boat, Arvind Singh comes from a family of farmers. He hails from Khabra village of Bulandshahr drict in Uttar Pradesh.
Before being introduced to rowing while serving in the Army Olympian Bajranglal Takhar, he was interested in cricket and athletics.
He had thought about switching disciplines from double sculls after claiming gold in the lightweight single sculls at the 2021 Asian Championships in Thailand and another single sculls gold at the 2022 National Championships in Pune.