Asian Games: Rowing on a roll

Therersquos something about Chinese waters and Indian rowers After their bestever show at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games one gold three silvers and a bronze the supermen with their oars are set for an encore and more having stormed into nine finals as the continental showpiece event returns to the Chinese mainlandItrsquos obvious then why Rowing Federation of Indiarsquos secretary general MV Sriram wonrsquot stop smiling as midday catches up with him here ldquoOur army athletes have always been strong but this time we have some navy rowers in the team who are very competitive And it is this army versus navy competition that is bringing the best out of us internationallyrdquo Sriram 66 says He is keen to underplay expectations though ldquoWe must realise that this is not like a boxing or wrestling final where a medal is assured There will be around six lanes finalists in each category so it will take a lot of effort to finish on the podiumrdquo he addsRFI secretary general MV Sriram in Hangzhou on Saturday PicAshwin Ferro The Indian rowing story is an interesting one and who better than Sriram who is in his third term as secretary general to explain itLack of water bodies in IndialdquoFor a sport like rowing you need at least a twokilometer stretch of waterway which is a rarity in our country unlike a place like China where there are water bodies in almost every city Then you need infrastructure in the form of a clubhouse plus catamarans to accompany the rowers physiotherapists masseurs and of course extremely expensive equipment This is why the sport is not easily accessible to the common man and only army sportspersons can take it up We have absolutely no corporate or private sponsorship Yet rowing is growing thanks to the government sports ministry who have been providing constant support with funds the ACTC or annual cost of training and competition for rowing is R67 crore that have ensured increased foreign exposure which is the reason our rowers have fared well in the last few years Rowers like Bajrang Lal Takhar gold medallist at 2010 Guangzhou Asiad Swarn Singh and Dattu Bhokanal both gold medallists at 2018 Jakarta Asian Games among others became household names through sheer hard work and determination despite being in a sport that is not very popular back homerdquo Sriram explainsIndian rowing has also had its share of controversy with Bhokanal alleged to have tanked a race at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games Sriram insists that issue was personal rather than professional ldquoIn Jakarta Dattu was clearly in the lead and then suddenly stopped rowing He was undergoing a lot of personal problems in his marriage and that combined with the intense media pressure after he excelled at the 2016 Rio Olympics he finished in 13th the bestever by an Indian rower at the Olympics led to his downfallrdquo he saysAlso ReadFormer luger Shiva Keshavan gives athletes more dope on antidopingA new financial hurdle however is threatening to sink the sport ldquoRowing has been clubbed into the luxury boating and yachts category due to which we incur a very high 28 per cent GST Goods and Services Tax All our boats are imported with each costing anything upward of Rs 10 lakh The high GST makes things unaffordable We have urged the government to bring it down to five per cent and are hopeful that will happen soonrdquo says SriramThree medals expectedComing back to the medal prediction for the upcoming nine finals Sriram chooses to be conservative ldquoOur lightweight menrsquos double sculls pair and menrsquos quad teams are good enough to win gold I think we should win at least three medals but you never know These Services boys thrive in adversity and if they can give it their all we could win morerdquo he signs off