Paris Olympics 2024: Balraj Panwar confirms India’s quota in rowing

Balraj Panwar confirmed India’s first Paris Olympics 2024 quota in rowing. The confirmation comes after Panwar won the bronze medal in the men’s single sculls (M1x) event at the Asian and Oceanian Rowing Olympic Qualification Regatta.

Panwar clocked 7:01.27s in the 2,000m race to win the bronze medal in the event held in Chungju, the Republic of Korea, on Sunday.

The Indian started by clocking 7:17.87s in the heats and bettered his performance in the semi-finals with a time of 7:16.21s. In the final, the Indian Army rower brought his best game forward and finished with a time of 7:01.27s to finish third.

Vladislav Yakovlev of Kazakhstan won the gold medal with a time of 6:59.46s, and Memo of Indonesia won the silver medal, clocking 6:59.74s.

The top-five finishers will cement their place at the Paris Olympics 2024.

The qualification is a shot-in-the-arm for Balraj Panwar, as he has an opportunity on a bigger stage to make amends for narrowly missing a medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.

However, in the men’s lightweight double sculls event, Indian rowers had to return without qualifying for the Olympics.

Although Arvind Singh and Ujjwal Kumar won the bronze medal in the men’s lightweight double sculls (LM2x) event, a Paris Olympics 2024 place eluded them as only the top two rowing teams advanced to the quadrennial Games.

Arvind and Ujjwal advanced to the final through repechage and finished with a time of 6:30.11s. Japan rowers won the gold medal, clocking 6:23.94s, and rowers from Uzbekistan won the silver medal with a time of 6:28.04.

Incidentally, Arvind and Arjun Lal Jat competed together in the same men’s lightweight double sculls (LM2x) category at the Tokyo Olympics. They also competed at the Asian Games and won a silver medal. However, with Arjun Jat injured with a back strain, Ujjwal partnered Arvind in the Asian and Oceanian Rowing Olympic Qualification Regatta.