After rejections, Arvind Singh sings redemption song

Indian rower Arvind Singh was a worried man after four failed attempts at cracking the army entrance exam. The son of a farmer didn't wish to follow in his father's footsteps. But then, having taken in his strides the rejections, he cleared the test in his fifth attempt and joined the Indian Army. Then rowing happened, and things changed for the better. On Sunday, Singh opened the country's account at the Asian Games with a silver medal in men's lightweight doubles sculls event along with Arjun Singh.

''For a farmer's son, joining Army was the only option I had... Otherwise I would have been forced to do farming to make ends meet,'' Singh remembered his days of struggle while talking to PTI from the Hangzhou Games Village.

With a sturdy six-foot, one-inch frame, the young athlete also tried his hands in his ''favourite'' sports, cricket and athletics, but couldn't make much progress there.

''So, this medal is dedicated to my father, (Vijay Singh) who faced so many hardships but ensured that I keep on trying to get into Indian Army. Despite our financial constraints, there was little pressure on me, and I didn't give up.

''Whatever I'm today is because of my dad, he has made so many sacrifices. I'm sure they would be so happy today.'' Singh managed to get into the Indian Army in his fifth attempt, in 2013, and was picked for the rowing team because of his ''tall'' 184-centimetre frame, in 2016.

''Forget about knowing the sport, till then, I didn't even hear the word rowing but I learnt the sport and made rapid progress,'' he said giving credit to his Indian coach Ismail Bag.

The best thing that happened to him was in 2018 when he got his partner Arjun Jat, also a son of a farmer and the duo showed a fine chemistry to make a formidable lightweight Indian double sculls pair.

In the next year, the duo won a silver at the Asian Rowing Championship in South Korea, and they also competed together in the Tokyo Olympics where they finished 11th.

Last year, the duo won the National Games gold in Gujarat and also the Asian Championship.

''But this medal is on top of everything. When I go back home I will get a new cabinet just for this,'' he said.

At the Fuyang Water Sports Centre on Sunday, the duo had a timing of 6:28.18s to finish behind China's Junjie Fan and Man Sun, who won gold with 6:23.16s.

The Uzbekistan pair of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev bagged the bronze clocking 6:33.42s.

''It was a tough race and we could have won a gold, but missed it. But we are not disappointed, it's a learning curve and we hope to turn this into a gold in the next edition in 2026,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)