World Rowing C'ships: Rohit-Ujjwal finish fourth, miss India’s first-ever medal by whisker

Indian rowers Rohit and Ujjwal Kumar Singh had a heartbreaking fourth-place finish at the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Thursday.

The duo clocked 6:29.08s in the men's lightweight double sculls event behind Uzbekistan, Germany and the USA and miss out on what could have been India's first medal at this event.

The Indian duo came from behind to enter the top 3 at the halfway mark and were in third place until 1850m, but ran out of gas in the end and were pipped by the American duo.

The duo made a massive improvement by almost a minute from its preliminary round time of 7:26.77s, where they finished fourth in heat 2 to qualify for the final.

With defending champions China and Olympic champions Ireland absent from the lightweight category, this final was one of the most tightly contested races of the championships and arguably India’s best chance to claim a medal.

However, this result will provide a major boost to the Indian rowing programme, which has never finished this high at the World Championships before, and could help develop more medal contenders for future editions.