Arjun and Sunil win India’s first medal in canoe event at Asian Games since 1994

PTI, Oct 3, 2023, 11:02 AM IST

Canoers Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam combined well to win India’s first medal at the Asian Games since 1994, bagging for a bronze in the men’s double 1000m event, here on Tuesday.

The Indian duo clocked 3:53.329 seconds to finish third, winning the country’s only second medal in the event in the Games’ history.

In the 1994 Hiroshima edition of the Games, India had bagged a bronze in the same event through Siji Sadanandan and Johnny Rommel.

Uzbekistan’s Shokhmurod Kholmuradov and Nurislom Tukhtasin Ugli won the gold clocking 3:43.796s while Kazakhstan pair of Timofey Yemelyanov and Sergey Yemelyanov claimed the silver with a timing of 3:49.991s.

While Sunil is 24-year-old and from Moirang in Bishnupur district of Manipur, 16-year-old Arjun is from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh but now he has shifted to Roorkee, Uttarakhand. Sunil, who is competing in only his second Asian Games after the 2018 edition, said the bronze here nullified the disappointment at Jakarta. ”In 2018, we could have won a medal in the same event but things went haywire after my partner got sick on the day of competition. We competed but could not do our best. Now, it’s second time lucky for me (here),” Sunil said after the event.

Arjun said he couldn’t have asked for a better result in his maiden Asian Games. ”It’s a dream come true for me, and also we are only the second medallist. Medal in my first Asian Games, I can’t ask for more. My mother will be really happy,” he said. Both Sunil and Arjun currently train in Bhopal under chief coach Pijush Baroi.