Satnam-Salman duo bags Asian Games bronze in double sculls

Gifu: At the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course on Thursday, Indian rowers Satnam Singh and Salman Khan earned bronze in the men's double sculls with a time of 6:13.25, while Balraj Panwar finished fourth in the men's single sculls final, just missing out on a medal.

Satnam and Salman clocked 6:13.25s to finish third behind China’s Xudi Yi and Yide Nie, who won the gold with 6:09.77s, and Uzbekistan’s Pavel Sorin and Mekhrojbek Mamatkulov clinched the silver in 6:10.49s, IANS reported.

After 1000m, the halfway stage, the Indian duo were in the bronze medal position behind Uzbekistan and China. They then moved second with 500m to go before being overtaken in the closing stages and finished the race in third place.

This is Satnam's second medal at the Asian Games. At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, he was part of the Indian men's quadruple sculls crew that won the bronze medal. Despite suffering a physical setback during an earlier race at the Games, he returned to help India secure a place on the podium.

Meanwhile, Salman, hailing from Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, was inducted into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), providing him with access to elite training and sports science support. A year later, he won a medal at the Asian Rowing Cup, an achievement that also earned him a promotion to the rank of Naib Subedar in the Indian Army.

Earlier, Balraj Panwar won a bronze medal in the men's single sculls final after finishing fourth with a time of 6:54.80.

At the halfway stage, Balraj was in the silver medal position, behind Zhiwei Deng of China. However, the gap between Balraj and Uzbekistan’s Shakhboz Kholmurzaev was not a big one; unfortunately, the Uzbek rower moved ahead of the Indian with 500m to go and Balraj finished outside the podium.

China’s Zhiwei Deng (6:38.98s) clinched the gold, and Uzbekistan’s Kholmurzaev (6:41.83s) bagged the silver while Japan’s Tatsuya Sakurama (6:46.78s) took the bronze.