Legend Bajrang Lal Takhar guides team to Asian Games rowing silver

Legendary Indian rower Bajrang Lal Takhar was a proud man at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre on Sunday Takhar the first and only Indian to bag an individual rowing gold at the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad and who is part of the Indian rowing contingent here as an official termed Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singhrsquos silver effort a massive achievement Indiarsquos rowers picked up three medals out of the five finals they competed inmdashtwo silvers and a bronze Bajrang Lal Takhar said he considered it a massive achievement as the Indians gave the mighty Chinese a tough fightFormer India rowing champion Bajrang Lal Takhar at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre yesterday PicAshwin FerrolsquoBoys really wanted that goldrsquoIndiarsquos Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh picked up the first rowing medal of the day a silver in the lightweight menrsquos double sculls clocking six minutes 2818 seconds China took gold clocking 62316 The Indian duo were actually in the lead against the Chinese for the first 500 metres of the 2km race ldquoWe were leading in the 500m though we may have been ahead by just a microsecond but it showed that these boys really wanted that gold medalrdquo Takhar told midday adding that it could well be a case of gold lost rather than silver won hereAlso ReadArjun Lal Jat Arvind Singh lsquobackrsquo from the brinkArjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh during the lightweight menrsquos double sculls event yesterday PicsPTIldquoArjun and Arvind are our most experienced pair and our biggest best for a gold medal so in that sense it is a bit disappointing but hats off to their effort They have always given the Chinese a tough fight even in two of the last three World Cups we participated in Switzerland and Serbia we lost in the semis to the Chinese They are Olympic and world championship medallists so itrsquos tough to beat themrdquo added Takhar stressing that this is Indiarsquos best finish in this particular event the previous medal being a bronze that was won 16 years ago in Doha by Bijender Singh and Kiran YalamanchiBabu Lal Yadav left and Lekh Ram with their bronze medalsTakharrsquos role with the rowing contingent is that of a motivator given his impressive achievements in the past And on Saturday night he did his best to try and instill that extra bit of confidence in Arjun and Arvind ldquoLast night I spoke to Arjun and Arvind and told them that the weather conditions are similar to that back home so that cannot be a hindrance Also their timings were good so I told them to aim for a 23 or 24 six minutes 23 seconds or six mins 24 seconds As things turned out today that timing would have been good enough for the gold medal but this is not to question the hard work and effort put in by Arjun and Arvind They are gold medallists for merdquo added TakharIndia players celebrate after clinching silver in menrsquos eight event yesterdayMoments after this silver medalwinning effort Indiarsquos Babu Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram clinched a bronze medal in the menrsquos pair event clocking 65041 behind Uzbekistanrsquos 64811 while China took the gold 644 20 Ram admitted there is room for improvement ldquoWe have to give our best and hope to get better in upcoming competitions including at the Olympics if we can qualifyrdquo he saidSilver in menrsquos eight eventIndiarsquos third rowing medal of the day was a silver in the menrsquos eight event won by Neeraj Nareskh Kalwaniya Neetish Kumar Charanjeet Singh Jaswinder Singh Bheem Singh Puneet Kumar and Ashish Dhananjay Uttam Pande performed the role of a coxswain in the team They clocked 54301 to finish second to China 54017 while Indonesia 54551 won the bronze ldquoIt all went as per plan which was to ensure we build pressure on teams like Uzbekistan Indonesia and Japan and then try to target China for the winrdquo said Pande