Rowers Arjun, Arvind produce best-ever Indian performance at Olympics, sail to double sculls semis

Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh on Sunday produced the best-ever Olympic performance by Indian rowers as they cruised into the mens lightweight double sculls semifinals at the Tokyo Games.

The Indian duo clocked 6:51.36 to finish third in the repechage round at the Sea Forest Waterway.

“We followed exactly whatever had been told to us by our coach. The coach told us that we should try to get the best position for India,” the duo said. “Its (rowing) not a very popular sport in India. So our coach told us that getting to the semifinals is also a big motivation for us, and we had to do our best.” Polands Jerzy Kowalski and Artur Mikolajczewski finished at the top with a timing of 6:43.44, followed by Spains Caetano Horta Pombo and Manel Balastegui, who clocked 6:45.71 in the repechage 2.

While Arjun assumes the role of the bower, Arvind is the teams stroker. The two had finished fifth in their heats on Saturday.

“This is the best ever performance by Indian rowers in the Olympics. No Indian team has ever reached the semifinals,” Rowing Federation of India president Rajlaxmi Singh Deo told

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