Olympian rower Balraj Panwar shines with men’s single scull gold in National Games

Balraj Panwar. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Paris Olympian Balraj Panwar, who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Asian Games in China last year, strengthened his status as one of the country’s top rowers as he defended his men’s single scull gold at the National Games here on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.

Panwar, born in Haryana but competing for Services here, clocked 7 minute and 26.68 seconds to row past the 2 km distance and take the first place at the Water Sports Complex here. Navdeep Singh (7:41.17) of Uttarakhand and Guru Pratap Singh (8:04.01) of Maharashtra took the silver and bronze respectively.

The 25-year-old Indian Army rower, who is also a two-time national champion, had finished fourth in the men’s single scull event in his maiden appearance at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last year, clocking 7:01.27.

He later qualified for the Paris Olympics where he finished 23rd.

Services and Madhya Pradesh shared the spoils in a straight fight for rowing supremacy as both collected five gold each.

The neck-and-neck rivalry was expected as both are among the top-class rowing facility providers in the country. Indian Army and Navy (whose athletes compete for Services) have top-class training facilities for rowers, the same in case of Madhya Pradesh also, especially in Bhopal.

Panwar had won the men’s singles scull gold in the 2023 Goa National Games with a time of 6:28.5.

For Madhya Pradesh, rising rower Khushpreet Kaur gave them the first gold by winning the women’s single scull final with a time of 8:40.35. Maharashtra’s Mrunmayee Nilesh (8:47.65) and Andaman and Nicobar’s Amrita Minj (8:48.18) took the silver and bronze respectively.

Other Results:

1. Men’s double scull: Gold: Kulvinder Singh and Jaspinder Singh (Services) – 6:44.67; Silver: Satnam Singh and Parminder Singh (Odisha) – 6:47.93; Bronze: Prabhakar Singh and Robin (Madhya Pradesh) – 6:59.50.

2. Men’s lightweight double scull: Gold: Ujwal Kumar and Ajay Tyagi (Services) – 6:43.80; Silver: Lakshay and Rohit (Haryana) – 6:45.15; Bronze: Nitin Deol and Sushil (Madhya Pradesh) – 7:02.66.

3. Men’s coxless four scull: Gold: Sannee Kumar, Iqbal Singh, Babulal Yadav and Yogesh Kumar (Services) – 6:25.08; Silver: Aashish Goliyan, Saurav Kumar, Neeraj and Ravi (Uttarakhand) – 6:34.43; Bronze: Anil Kumar, Ankush, Sankit and Bhanu Pratap Singh (Madhya Pradesh) – 6:44.39.

4. Men’s quadruple scull: Gold: Karamjit Singh, Salman Khan, Jakar Khan and Arvind Singh (Services) – 6:11.05; Silver: Lakshya, Ajay, Ravi and Manjeet (Haryana) – 6:16.22; Bronze: Sunil, Kaushlesh Pratap Singh, Rahul and Nitin Deol (Madhya Pradesh) – 6:20.72.

5. Women’s lightweight double scull: Gold: Poonam and Rukmani (Madhya Pradesh)- 7:51.96; Silver: Savita and Diksha (Haryana)- 7:58.10; Bronze: B Anadhi and Kiran Devi (Meghalaya) – 8:01.52.

6. Men’s Coxless Pair: Manmohan and Bheem Singh – (Madhya Pradesh)- 7:11.40; Silver: Punit Kumar and Mohd Adil (Uttar Pradesh)- 7:15.52; Bronze: Jasveer Singh and Harinder Singh (Uttarakhand)- 7:24.23.

7. Women’s Coxless Pair: Gold: Gurubani Kaur and Diljot Kaur (Madhya Pradesh) – 8:09.45; Silver: Vijina Mol and Aleena Anto (Kerala) – 8:18.53; Bronze: Jaismeen Kaur and Jashanpreet Kaur (Punjab) – 8:23.71.

8. Women’s Quadruple Scull: Gold: Santosh Yadav, Poonam, Khushpreet Kaur and Rukmani (Madhya Pradesh) – 7:08.40; Silver: Suman Devi, Kiran, Pavitra and Diksha (Haryana) – 7:14.45; Bronze: Anna Helan Joseph, Gouri Nandak, Saniya J Krishna and Aswani Kumaran (Kerala) – 7:18.06.

9. Women’s Coxless Four: Gold: Rose Mariyajoshi, Varsha, Aswathi and Meenakshi (Kerala) – 7:33.18; Silver: Sonali Swain, Nikita Dnyaneshwar, Avinash Kaur and Jharana Hasti (Odisha) – 7:38.66; Bronze: Bagavthy, Madhumita, Akilandeshwari and Rose Mastica (Tamil Nadu) – 7:46.37.

10. Women’s Double Scull: Gold: Suman Devi and Kiran (Haryana) – 7:52.09; Silver: Nandak and Saniya J Krishna (Kerala) – 7:59.80; Bronze: Thangjam Priya Devi and Haobijam Devi(Manipur) – 8:01.18.