Olympic dream : Karnal rower looks to make waves in Paris

The parched lands of Rajasthan have given Indian rowing many stars, led by the first Asian Games gold medallist from the country — Bajrang Lal Takhar of Sikar.
In the not-too-distant Karnal, which shares some geographical similarity with Takhar’s home, 25-year-old Balraj Panwar has become the only Indian rower to make the cut for the Paris Olympics.
Born into a lower middle-class family in Kaimla village of Karnal’s Gharounda subdivision, Panwar did not grow up dreaming about making a career in sports, leave aside rowing, a word that was alien to the region.
Tragedy struck the family as Panwar lost his father at the age of 10. He began to shoulder responsibility and by 19, had enrolled in the army where he got acquainted with the sport.
“Life was difficult. I had to shift to Sonepat for my secondary education. I pursued polytechnic and after two years, during an army recruitment rally in Ambala Cantt, I was selected, and my first posting was in Roorkee. Here, I learnt about rowing and never looked back,” he recalls.
The Karnal native was a natural as he made the army’s team for the national championships. And soon, the medals started flowing in — starting with a gold at the 2020 Army Novices Championships, followed by two golds at the Senior National Rowing Championships at Pune.
His biggest result came at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, when he made to the final only to miss out on a medal. He finished fourth.
Geographic, financial barriers
With India’s sole Olympic quota in rowing, which he earned at a recent men’s singles sculls qualification event in South Korea under his belt, Panwar now wants to start giving back to the sport that has changed his life.
For him, the work needs to begin with increasing the sport’s visibility in the region.
Last week, Balraj was in the front row of the “Meet and Greet” Champions event organised by cricketer Sumit Narwal’s Foundation at Karnal. It was chaired by former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and was also attended by Olympians Vijender Singh, Yogeshwar Dutt, Babita Phogat and others.
At the event with over 100 sportspersons in attendance, Balraj introduced the sport that was alien for many.
“It was normal for people to not be familiar with rowing, but I was shocked to find out other sportspersons also had no idea about it. It is not popular in India, and the situation is worse in Haryana,” he said.
Notably, rowers require a natural lake with flowing stream in an area of 1-2 km and that’s where geography poses a hurdle.
“Aspirants from Haryana do practice at Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh and at Jind, but there is no government-run academy in the state,” Panwar says.
Experts attribute the lack of natural waterbody fit for rowing practice to the government’s inability to develop the proper infrastructure, which states like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka have built.
Pankaj Nain, who held the charge of director with Haryana sports department, said the lack of lakes and water bodies also affected the popularity.
“Sports often have a regional connection and geography obviously plays its part. Besides, contact sports like kabbadi, wrestling or even boxing have caught the fancy of Haryana’s youth,” the IPS officer says.
Nain, however, has a positive outlook for the future, “The youth have started trying their hand at rowing and other skill-based sports and the government has also started developing the infrastructure needed to support them.”
In his 2023-24 budget speech, the then CM Khattar had proposed the construction of a centre for water sports in Karnal district.
The army has done well to support athletes like Takhar, Panwar and even Punjab’s Sawarn Singh, providing them with facilities to practice at as well as the equipment, which can be difficult to afford. The 14-kg boat alone costs around ₹5 lakh.
Panwar is now looking to leave his mark in Paris, hoping that a good showing at the world’s biggest sporting stage makes waves big enough to inspire youngsters back home to pick up the oars.