India Rowing at Asian Games 2023: Full Team, Schedule, Medal Chances

With a huge 33-member rowing team for the Asian Games, can India double its medal tally of the 2018 Jakarta Games? India’s positioning in rowing is significantly better than other underrated sports in the history of the quadrennial event. India is ranked 5th in medal tally in the list of 17 nations in Asia. India won three medals, one being a gold in the men’s quadruple sculls event, in Jakarta.

Indian rowers' performances four years ago augured well for the country heading into the Hangzhou Games. There are hopes that India will double its medal tally, competing in 10 major events. We can also expect a good rivalry between Indian and Chinese rowers.

India Rowing Team

Men's team: Balraj Panwar Single, Satnam Singh, Parminder Singh, Satnam Singh, Parminder Singh, Jakar Khan, Sukhmeet Singh, Arvind Singh, Arjun Lal Jat, Babul Lal Yadav, Lekh Ram, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish, Neeraj, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neetesh Kumar, Charanjeet Singh and D. U. Pande

Substitute: Ashish Goliyan and Kulvinder Singh

Women's team: Kiran, Anishka Bharti, Aswathi P. B., Mrunamayee Nilesh, Thangjam Priya Devi, Rukmani, Aswathi P. B., Mrunamayee Nilesh, Thangjam Priya Devi, Rukmani, Sonali Swain, Ritu Kaudi, Varsha K. B., H. Tendenthoi Devi, G. Geetanjali and Rukmani

Substitute: Archa Aji, Rose Mestica Meril A

India Rowing Events

Men’s Events:

Single scull- Balraj Panwar

Double scull- Parminder Singh and Satnam Singh

Quadruple scull- Satnam Singh, Parminder Singh, Jakar Khan, and Sukhmeet Singh Lightweight double scull- Arvind Singh and Arjun Lal Jat Coxless pair- Babul Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram Coxless four- Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, and Ashish

Coxed eight- Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish, Neeraj, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neetesh Kumar, Charanjeet Singh and D. U. Pande

Women’s Events:

Lightweight double scull- Kiran and Anishka Bharti

Coxless four- Aswathi P. B., Mrunamayee Nilesh, Thangjam Priya Devi, and Rukmani Coxed eight- Aswathi P. B., Mrunamayee Nilesh, Thangjam Priya Devi, Rukmani, Sonali Swain, Ritu Kaudi, Varsha K. B., H. Tendenthoi Devi and G. Geetanjali

Schedule

Lightweight double sculls, Men’s double sculls, Women’s coxless four, Men’s double sculls, and Men’s coxed eight:

20/9/2023 Wednesday, 09:00–12:00- Heat

21/9/2023 Thursday, 09:00–12:00- Repechage

22/9/2023 Friday, 09:00–12:00- Semi-finals

25/9/2023 Monday, 09:00–12:00- Finals

Men’s single sculls, coxless four, Men’s quadruple sculls, and Women’s coxed eight:

20/9/2023 Wednesday, 15:00–17:00 - Heat

21/9/2023 Thursday,15:00–17:00- Repechage

22/9/2023 Friday, 15:00–17:00- Semi-finals

25/9/2023 Monday, 09:00–12:00- Finals

Medal Chances

Arvind Singh and Arjun Lal Jat | Event - Lightweight double sculls | Predicted Finish - Silver

Olympians Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh are India's leading rowers. They are India's best bet for a medal in Hangzhou as they delivered India’s best performance at the Tokyo Olympics, making an 11th-place finish after clocking 6:29.66s. Their timing was just 14 seconds more than the winners. The pair improved their Olympic show with a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Championships by beating Uzbekistan and Iraq.

Arvind Singh won a gold medal in the lightweight single-skull event, while Arjun Lal Jat bagged another gold with Ravi in double skulls in the 2021 Asian Championships. Though the pair was not competing together, they won gold in their respective events and India won a medal at the Lightweight skull event. In the 2019 Asian Championships in Chungju, Arjun along with Arvind Singh won their first international medal. Even though the pair were not seen together at the previous Asiad, Indian rowers won a bronze medal bronze in this event.

At the Asian Games in China, they will be thick in action and one of the strongest contenders for a medal - possibly a silver - due to their consistency in international meets.

Who else could win medals?

There are expectations of India winning a medal at the double sculls event as the pair of Parminder Singh and Satnam Singh made a fourth-place finish in the Jakarta Asian Games. At the same time, the consecutive medal-winning performances by Parminder Singh in the Asian Championships further strengthened India's chance of securing a medal in this event.

Due to the presence of the reigning Asian Games gold medallist Sukhmeet Singh and Asian indoor rowing champion Parminder Singh, the squad of the men’s quadruple event is also super strong. The other two rowers for the team event are Jakar Khan and Satnam Singh. The expectations to stay at the top at this event at this year’s Asian Games are also high.

Indian rowers at the 2018 Asian Games

At the 2018 Asian Games, India won one gold and two bronze medals. Sawarn Singh, Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh combined to win the gold medal in the Quadruple sculls event. Dushyant Chauhan won the bronze medal in Lightweight single sculls, while Rohit Kumar and Bhagwan Singh bagged the bronze in the doubles discipline.

India at the Asian Games: Rowing records

India is ranked 5th in the Asian Games rowing medal tally with 2 golds, 5 silvers, and 16 bronze medals just below Asian rowing dominators China, Japan, South Korea, and Uzbekistan. India's first-ever Asian Games gold medal was won by Bajrang Lal Takhar in 2010. At the last edition of the Asian games, India won three medals, a gold in men’s quadruple skulls and two bronze in men’s lightweight single and doubles.

Gold - Bajrang Lal Takhar (2010), Sawarn Singh, Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Om Prakash, Sukhmeet Singh (2018)

Silver - Bajrang Lal Takhar (2006), Dharmesh Sangwan, Jenil Krishnan, Sukhjeet Singh, Satish Joshi (2006), Anil Kumar, Saji Thomas, Ranjit Singh, Jenil Krishnan (2010), Anil Kumar, Girraj Singh, Saji Thomas, Lokesh Kumar, Manjeet Singh, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Ranjit Singh, Satish Joshi, Jenil Krishnan (2010), Lokesh Kumar, Manjeet Singh, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Satish Joshi (2010)

Bronze - Pravin Uberoi, Mohammed Amin Naik, Deependra Tomar (1982)m Surinder Singh, Rajender Singh Bhanwala (1990), Gajendran, Jasbir Singh, Surinder Singh, P. M. Pathak (1990), Dalbir Singh (1990), Dalbir Singh, Ramanjit Singh (1990) , Jagjit Singh, Rajender Prahlad, Shilke (1994) , Birbal Singh, Tarlochan Singh, Johnson Xavier, Jagjit Singh (1998), B. K. K. Thankachan, Rampal Singh, Pappi Singh, Kasam Khan (1998), Jenil Krishnan, Inderpal Singh, Roshan Lal, Paulose Pandari Kunnel (2002), Kiran Yalamanchi, Bijender Singh (2006), Pratima Puhan, Pramila Prava Minz (2010), Sawarn Singh (2014), Kapil Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Bajrang Lal Takhar, P. U. Robin, Sawan Kumar Kalkal, Azad Mohammed, Maninder Singh, Davinder Singh, Ahmed Mohammed (2014), Dushyant Chauhan (2014), Dushyant Chauhan (2018), Rohit Kumar, Bhagwan Singh (2018)