Asian Games 2026: How India’s rowing campaign unravelled amid event switch controversy

The Indian rowing contingent at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya registered its worst performance in 24 years amidst the last-minute events switch controversy which broke out three days ago.

Out of the eight events India registered in, only five made Final A or the medal finals. Of the four, only one event – Salman Khan and Satnam Singh in men’s doubles sculls – took the final spot on the podium.

Despite being shunted from the men’s quadruple sculls to the men’s doubles sculls at the last moment, Khan and Singh earned India’s first-ever medal in the former. It was the only moment of solace in an otherwise shoddy campaign all around.

This is in sharp contrast to the campaign at the delayed 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou three years ago when India bagged five medals, including two silver and three bronze medals.

Four years prior, in 2018 Jakarta, that tally stood at three medals with two bronze and a gold medal in quadruple sculls – the event India finished fifth in at the Nagaragawa Regatta International Course after three of the rowers initially listed to compete, including medallists Khan, Singh, and Olympian Balraj Panwar, were moved to different events less than 48 hours before the start of competitions.

With Ajay Tyagi in lightweight men’s singles sculls and the events switch affecting Nitin Kumar-Jaswinder Singh in men’s pair failing to make Final A, it is also the first time since 2002 that India didn’t have a boat in all the men’s rowing medal finals.

India has enjoyed a rich history in rowing at the Asian Games, starting from the 1982 Games in New Delhi, when the sport made its debut with the hosts winning a bronze.

As per the website of the Rowing Federation of India, the 1986 Games in Seoul have been the only edition where the country hasn’t medalled in the sport; and that was because India didn’t send a team.

Four decades later, at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games, India came ever so close to creating an unwanted record of returning empty-handed from the continental Games in rowing when a host of athletes threatened to pull out of the competition after being booted out of the events they trained months for without notice.

The Rowing Federation of India President Balaji Maradapa, who was elected to office in July last year and ended a long reign of Rajalakshmi Singh Deo, has been in the firing line over the past few days since the news first broke out.

Maradapa has, however, maintained that the decision was taken to maximise India’s medal chances in consultation with the coaches when the four-day rowing programme at the Nagaragawa Regatta International Course was condensed to two days due to the typhoon warning in the region.

Antony Patterson, an Australian national who has been working as the head coach for the Indian setup since June 2024, has also publicly defended the decision since.

It might have been a logical decision on paper, but eventually didn’t lead to any positive outcomes. Instead of maximising India’s chances, the nation ended with its worst performance in over two decades. The negative PR which came with it was an addition.

The rowers’ version of events

The reports of Maradapa threatening the rowers with dire consequences if they didn’t compete only added fuel to the fire in what was a no-win situation for the leadership.

Maradapa has categorically denied the allegations in media bytes, but the rowers continue to double down.

“He [Maradapa] said a lot of things he shouldn’t have. He told us that he has a well-settled life and children and that he is here just for fun. It is us who’ll face the consequences,” a rower, on condition of anonymity, told The Bridge after the end of the competitions.

“He also told us to pack our bags and leave for India if we didn’t want to compete.

“He went ballistic after us and is trying to save face. He made us feel like we were doing something anti-national,” the rower added.

Maradapa has alleged the rowers acted the way they did, reaching out to the media, due to external influence.

While the President didn’t particularly name anyone, a bit of reading between the lines paints a clearer picture of a power struggle.

Ahead of the 2026 Asian Games, long-time coach and Dronacharya awardee Ismail Baig was sidelined. The cracks were visible since then.

“I have been to seven Asian Games. For me, this is shocking, but no one in the federation is giving me any reply,” coach Baig had then said.

“I have not written to them. Why should I write? If they need me, they will call me.

“Maybe they don’t need me anymore, maybe they have found a better coach. Maybe we are old people following old techniques. Maybe they want better results than what I was delivering,” he added, as per a then-PTI report.

Baig has also insisted that he remained the “national coach” because he wasn’t given any formal notice.

Maradapa had, in a response, maintained that the federation was looking ahead to the future, aiming for a medal at the 2028 LA Olympics, whilst disregarding the lack of formal notice.

“We thought we should have some foreign coach to move ahead, because we cannot always remain at the Asian Games or Asian Championships level,” Maradapa said.

“He is saying that he is the national coach, but I don’t know. I have no idea that he has been nominated as the national coach by whom and when. Does he have a letter saying he has been nominated as coach? If he can show he has been nominated as coach for one year, two years, three years, then definitely I can look into it,” he had added.

A coaching change that divided the camp

The rowers agreed that they were unhappy training under Patterson and the issue was building up in the backdrop before the full-blown explosion in Japan.

“Firstly, we never had any direct communication with the Australian coach. Neither when events were switched nor when we trained during the camp,” the rower said.

“He would just come and tell us a few basic pointers and move on during sessions.

“Most of us aren’t well-versed in English, so we only had indirect communication,” the rower added.

At the 2025 Asian Championships, India had bagged three gold medals, five silver, and two bronze, with both Baig and Patterson around to oversee.

But the rowers refuse to credit the Australian for the success.

“We trained and did everything under Ismail sir,” the rower said. “He [Patterson] was added at the last minute as an advisor and was given all the credit.”

Baig was eventually phased out.

“He [Maradapa] feels that we are acting on the behest of the previous president and coach. But he is unable to understand how we are affected,” the rower added.

Amidst all the backdrop drama, it is the Indian medal tally which emerges poorer at the end of the day.

Indian rowers return dejected, while administrators face a PR disaster.