Asian Games 2026: Indian rowers to compete in new events; withdrawal unlikely

The controversy surrounding the Indian rowing contingent at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan is heading towards its closure.

The Bridge has learnt that the rowers continue to be unhappy; it is unlikely that they will go through with their initial stance of pulling out of the competition as a protest against the last-minute event switch without notice.

Rowing events at the continental games start on Wednesday, and the draws are already out.

Olympian Balraj Panwar will kickstart India’s campaign in the sport. He’ll be in action in men’s singles sculls instead of the men’s quadruple sculls – the event he had trained nearly seven months for.

The 2022 Asian Games medallist Arvind Singh will now turn up in quadruple sculls instead of the men’s singles sculls.

The same remains true for all the rowers, who had their events switched in a last-minute harakiri from the team coaches and the Rowing Federation of India.

The saga started when the rowers were told of the switch after their training on Monday, less than 48 hours before the competitions were set to begin.

When the athletes protested, they were informed that the entries were already sent and a change wasn’t possible before the dirty laundry came out in the open.

The Federation, meanwhile, continues to maintain that the event switch was done to maximise India’s medal chances, with competition now condensed to two days.

The rowers continue to fight this claim on social media, citing that no other team has done the same.

It is also interesting to note that none of the rowers, who had their events switched, were slotted to compete in multiple events, further raising eyebrows at the federation’s stance.

India has won medals in each edition of the Asian Games, dating back to the 1986 Games in Beijing, China. It remains to be seen whether India can extend that impressive streak with disgruntled athletes competing in events they barely trained for.