New Delhi: Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal&nbsp;on Monday qualified for the Rio Olympics after winning a silver in&nbsp;the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania&nbsp;Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea.
The 25-year-old armyman clocked 7 minutes and 07.63&nbsp;seconds in the 2km course to finish second. The top seven in&nbsp;the finals qualify for the Rio Games.
Nashik-born Bhokanal, who trains at the Army Rowing Node&nbsp;(ARN) in Pune, was on course for a gold medal finish as he was&nbsp;leading the five-man field till the 1,500 metre mark but&nbsp;Korean Dongyong Kim (07 mins 05.13 secs) overtook him at the&nbsp;final stretch.
"We are very much delighted that Dattu Bhokanal has&nbsp;qualified for the Rio Games in men's single sculls event by&nbsp;finishing second in the Asian Olympic qualifying event in&nbsp;Korea," Rowing Federation of India Secretary General Capt.&nbsp;Girish J Phadnis told PTI from Mumbai.
"His Olympic qualification is a welcome development for&nbsp;the sport of rowing which has been doing well for some time.&nbsp;We have been having a Indian rower for every Olympics since&nbsp;2000," he added.
India could not, however, book a Rio berth in the men's&nbsp;light weight double sculls as the pair of Vikram Singh and&nbsp;Roopendra Singh finished fifth in the finals. Only top three&nbsp;qualify for Rio Olympics in this category.
Phadnis also said that Bhokanal will be the lone Indian&nbsp;rower taking part in Rio Games as no more qualifying events&nbsp;are left now. By virtue of qualifying for the Rio Games,&nbsp;Bhokanal is expected to be included in the government's Target&nbsp;Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme which funds medal prospects in&nbsp;their training and preparation.
Bhokanal will be the ninth rower to represent India in&nbsp;the Olympics after Kasam Khan and Inderpal Singh (Sydney 2000;&nbsp;men's coxless pairs), Paulose Pandari Kunnel (Athens 2004;&nbsp;men's singles sculls), Bajrang Takhar (Beijing 2008; men's&nbsp;singles sculls), Manjit Singh and Devender Khandwal (Beijing&nbsp;2008; men's lightweight double sculls) and Sawarn Singh&nbsp;(London 2012; men's singles sculls) and Manjit Singh and&nbsp;Sandeep Kumar (London 2012; men's lightweight double&nbsp;sculls).
Born in Nashik in 1991, Bhokanal comes from a humble&nbsp;background and took to rowing in 2012 at the BEG Centre at&nbsp;Kirkee in Pune. In 2013, he shifted to ARN, Pune for better&nbsp;training.
He won two gold medals in the 2014 National Rowing&nbsp;Championships, representing the Services and represented India&nbsp;at the 2014 Asian Games in China.
Bhokanal's best international achievement so far was&nbsp;winning a silver in men's single sculls in the 16th Asian&nbsp;Rowing Championships in China last year.&nbsp;
Considering Bhokanal's rise to the top level in such a&nbsp;short span of time, Phadnis said that he can even spring a&nbsp;surprise and finish at the podium in Rio Games.&nbsp;
"He took to rowing very late. He has been rowing for just&nbsp;four years only and he has won a silver in Asian Championships&nbsp;last year and now he has qualified for the Olympics. He should&nbsp;be in the top 10 in Rio but you never know he can spring a&nbsp;surprise," Phadnis said.
Asked if Bhokanal may be sent abroad for training to&nbsp;prepare for for the Rio Games, Phadnis said, "We will discuss&nbsp;it with Bhokanal and his coach once they return from Korea and&nbsp;take a call whether he will go abroad or not. Time is short&nbsp;now but for sure he will go for high altitude training."

Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal&nbsp;on Monday qualified for the Rio Olympics after winning a silver in&nbsp;the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania&nbsp;Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea

Nashik lad Dattu Bhokanal qualifies for Rio Olympics in rowing

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Home / Sports / Other Sports / Article / Nashik lad Dattu Bhokanal qualifies for Rio Olympics in rowing

Nashik lad Dattu Bhokanal qualifies for Rio Olympics in rowing

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