DOHA: The Indian rowers provided a bright spectacle in gloomy weather as they scooped up two silver medals at the West Bay Lagoon in the 15th Asian Games here on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Bajranglal Takhar clinched the silver in the single sculls event, 1.39 seconds behind Korean Eun Chul Shin.

In fact, Bajranglal kept thinking about the favourite Chinese, Chen Zheng, who eventually finished last. "I was thinking that I had to compete with the Chinese. It was surprising that Korea came in between. I tried my best till the last moment to beat the Korean. I am happy anyway'', he said.

Thrilling fare

There was reason for the Indian camp to be thrilled about the fare, as there had only been bronze medals, ten of them over the years till Wednesday, at the Asian Games.

The foursome of Dharmesh Sangwan, Jenil Krishnan, Sukhjeet Singh and Satish Joshi clocked 3:08.98 to bag the silver in the men's four event, to take the tally to two silvers and a bronze from this edition. Never mind that the Japanese finished 4.5 seconds ahead.

The Indian team had won the solitary bronze in the last edition in this event, and Jenil Krishnan alone could survive in the Indian team from that squad.

"We were not scared of the Japanese but were worried about China. We put in out best'', said Krishnan.

The secretary general of the Rowing Federation of India, C.P. Singh Deo, here as the vice-president of the jury, said that the efforts were paying off.

"I am delighted with the performance. The team has worked hard for these three medals. We could have got the gold also but the under current in our lane was not favourable'', Deo observed.

The results:

Men's single sculls: 1. Eun Chul Shin (Kor) 3:38.04; 2. Bajranglal Takhar 3:39.43; 3. Mikhail Garnik (Kaz) 3:44.58.

Men's four: 1. Yu Kataoka, Yuya Higashiyama, Rokuroh Okumura, Yoshinari Sato (Jpn) 3:04.48; 2. Dharmesh Sangwan, Jenil Krishnan, Sukhjeet Singh, Satish Joshi 3:08.98; 3. Thomas Hallatu, Sumardi, Jamaluddin, Iswandi (Ina) 3:09.83.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail