Dushyant Singh won India’s first medal in rowing at the ongoing 18th Asian Games, claiming a bronze in men’s lightweight single sculls early on Friday
The 25-year-old finished third with a timing of 7.18.76 and was so drained after the effort that he collapsed on the finish line. He couldn’t even stand at the podium and had to be administered a drip and wheeled out.
Dushyant had began rowing in 2012 at an army training camp in Roorkee, and had won a bronze in the last edition of the Games in Incheon as well. He was declared the best rower in the 2013 National Championships.
What does it take to win a medal at the Asian Games? Dushyant Singh stuck it out through high BP to win India’s first bronze in rowing. He threw up at the prize ceremony and had to be stretchered out afterwords. pic.twitter.com/0zI3ZntcUg
— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) August 24, 2018
Here’s a brief description of his career so far.
Date of Birth: 9th October 1992
Event at Asian Games: Rowing
Past Asiad performance: Bronze in 2014
The 25-year-old rower is an Army man who hails from Jhajjar in Haryana but has been training at the Army Rowing Node in Pune for the last couple of years. He won the gold at the Senior National Rowing Championships in 2017. He also has a gold medal at the Asian Indoor Rowing Championship in 2015 which were held in Thailand.
The son of a farmer in Haryana, Dushyant joined the Bengal Engineering Group in the Army and took to Rowing in 2012. Within two years, Dushyant represented India at the 2014 Asian Games, winning a bronze medal in men’s single sculls event. At the Incheon games, he had led till the last 200m of the 2km race, before strong wind and rain pushed him back.
He was one of four rowers initially selected by the Army as India’s best hopes for 2016 Rio Olympics, but he couldn’t qualify for the Games because he was diagnosed with chicken pox in the months leading up to the mega event.
He is supported by GoSports along with fellow rower Dattu Bhokanal.