Asian Games: Meet the Family of Eight rowers that opened India’s medal account | Asian-games News

The missed funeral of a sibling and an unsaid Antim Ardas. The long dance anxiety over a parent’s recuperation from pass surgery. The forgotten taste of a gulab jamun, outlawed from a sportsman’s diet. India’s Men’s Eight in rowing, which trained in Pune for long months away from their homes, finally had a silver to show for all the sacrifices made, for all the sorrows hidden while staying focused on the goal of an Asian Games medal.As they synchronised their strokes and injected a power blast at the 1200 metre mark to ward off Uzbekan and Indonesia, India’s coxed eight, liplessly chorused the mantra ‘Row hard, row for gold’.
The crew was drawn from small villages in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra and brought together and whipped into a single breathing monolith the Army Rowing Node. They ended up with a precious silver, won for the first time since 2010, finishing in 5 minutes, 43.01 seconds, a mere two-and-a-half seconds behind China’s 5:40.17. The 2018 edition results in rowing had been underwhelming, but after the Eights finals, the Indians, all armymen, could exhale. And hope to head home after months of being camped at Pune’s Rowing Node, should they be granted leave after a medal.

Many congratulations to our Rowing Team on winning the #SilverMedal in the Men’s Coxed Eight event.
Let’s #Cheer4india 🇮🇳 #WeAreTeamIndia | #IndiaAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/7vPAPcYVbv
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) September 24, 2023
Charanjeet Singh (26), Channi to teammates, from Nangla village in Bathinda, rows the 4th seat in the Men’s Eight, that requires him to keep the four teammates in front and three behind motivated, with his stroking momentum. “I’m thrilled the medal goal is realised now, but there were times when I wasn’t there when my family needed me most,” he recalls. His ser would pass away from a sudden brain haemorrhage, and Charanjeet at a national camp in 2019, regrets not reaching in time to save her or for the funeral and prayer service.
Earlier, he had insed on joining the army after feeling a ‘junoon’ watching war movies, and defied relatives who told him to not waste money on sport, when he was selected for rowing. “Many demotivated me saying full payment will go on my diet and I would save nothing. But everything was taken care of the army and I started loving the sport. The only problem was we couldn’t go home for more than 4-5 days.” He last went to Nangla in March.
Team is family
Neetish Kumar, from Mavi Khurd in Baghpat, UP, emulated his father and joined the army, and rows the 3rd seat in Eights. He last went home in January for just a week, and dearly misses his parents and wife, but said building a combination on the boat needed this commitment and sacrifice. “In Pune, my teammates are my family. We’ve built a bond since we all stay away from home. We constantly live with the responsibility that even if one player slackens, it will cost the other eight people (including a coxswain) a medal,” he says.
For him, a massive sacrifice was staying away from sweets. “Hum north se hai, hume gulab jamun aur kaju katli bohot pasand hai. But team ke liye nahi khaa sakte meetha,” he would add. Also missing his sweet ghewar is Neeraj Maan, from Khwaja Nangla, Baghpat, who stands tall at 189 cms and rows the first seat. “My role is to bring balance and rhythm.”

#TeamIndia🇮🇳 win SILVER 🥈 Medal in Rowing Men’s Eight Event 🚣‍♂️#Cheer4India #AsianGames #IndiaAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/BU80pL3VIf
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) September 24, 2023
Puneet Kumar, the powerhouse on the 7th seat, and joint tallest at 189 cms, can boast of an impressive ergometer score of 6:15. The 29-year-old from Kakra, Muzaffarnagar, remembers rowing’s punishing ‘500m/1000m patches’ – relentless training sessions with just a minute’s break, where heart rates were constantly at 190/200. “I remember I couldn’t eat on those afternoons when we had these sessions,” says the human engine who commanded the aggressive start till 750m and the power blast at 1200m to parry off Uzbekan.
A carefree kabaddi player when young, he recalls turning responsible after his father’s pass surgery. “Father is a farmer, but in a weak heart condition and couldn’t do much. My mother has had four stomach surgeries and is asthmatic. I have younger sers. And coming from a village, I knew the army was my only way out of a precarious financial situation. I have to work hard as a rower, there’s no option,” says the soldier who joined the army at 18. On Monday, he goes back into the water for the Fours event. “Jo medal China ko gayaa, wo waapas lana hai.”
Keeping Puneet free to power his strokes and maintaining rhythm in the middle of the boat was seat No. 6 Bheem Singh of Alwar, Rajasthan. He has ailing parents at home – father is often unwell and mother struggles to move around because of joint pain. But the army rowing coach once enabled him to get leave for his ser’s wedding. And he feels indebted to the senior ever since. “Target banaa rehna chahiye, ghar pe jo bhi problem ho. Coach Saab ke liye ye medal haasil karna tha. This was life’s only focus,” explains the son of a millets farmer.
Also coming from a farming family was 26-year-old Jaswinder Singh of Kaleran village in Dhuri tahsil of Sangrur. His older brother Baljinder, also a forces man, recalls a sibling who suffered acute physical pain from varicose veins before it was treated. He rows the 5th seat pulling the crew and reducing pressure on those ahead, and is very happy with army life, though he misses his fields in Punjab. “He built his strength as rower working in the fields. And even now, even if he’s home for few days, he gets down to farm work. He won’t rest. He loves working the land,” Baljinder says.
Striving for each other
The ba of the Eights crew is 24-year-old rifleman Naresh Kalvaniya from Amarsar, Jaipur, born to a farmer father. Naresh would grudgingly help out in the fields when young, but misses that life now. “I used to find it difficult, but now I miss it. Very early in life, I was told that I would have to shoulder the responsibility of the family, so army was the only way out,” he says. He was a standout performer in the last two seasons domestically, and got picked into the Eights crew. “I have the least experience, so there was nervousness but seniors helped.”Most Read
1
Jawan box office collection day 17: Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster breaks Pathaan’s record, is the biggest Hindi movie of all time in India

2
Watch this space: Chandrayaan-3 sleeps as US Space Force punches a hole in atmosphere

See More

Steering the boat and setting the tone of the stroke for others to copy, is 8th seater Ashish, from Sikar in Rajasthan, son of a retired armyman. Born into a sense of responsibility, the 26-year-old reckons the team has bonded keeping communication open and frank. “There is pressure on us because the army and government have spent a lot on our training. When I injured my back in 2019, they took care of me. The medal was our way to repay their faith.”
Perhaps nothing acts as a bigger glue than the whole team of giants pulling the leg of their 5’7” coxswain, Dhananjay Pande, who at 32 is the oldest and a link in the chain between coaches and players, as steerer-in-chief. Born in Raigad drict of Maharashtra, Pande joined the Boys Sports Company at 13, has always rowed and in 2011, shifted to being a coxswain. “I absorb the tension on behalf of players, and apply the pressure on part of the coaches. I guide their movements and rhythm,” says the athlete, rowing since sub-junior years.
“Pandeji gets angry very fast if something annoys him and the whole team gets down to calming him down in different ways. And that’s how half the jokes are cracked, and the atmosphere stays light,” says Neetish. Staying away from families for long months, the coxswain keeps this team together on and off the boat.