Asian Games | Olympics rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal targets gold for late mother

08/18/2018

Dattu Baban Bhokanal revels that he has set his sights on a gold medal in the ongoing Asian Games in Palembang in honor of his late mother who passed away back in 2016. Bhokanal revealed the change in his diet and training routine after the appointment of Romanian coach, Nicolae Gioga.

Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal created waves, quite literally, when he qualified for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics after he won silver in the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea. Bhokanal clocked 7 minutes and 07.63 seconds as he secured a spot in Rio, which made him just the ninth Indian rower to make it to the Olympics.

But since then, Bhokanal has gone through a lot of ups and downs in his life, both professional and personal. The loss of his mother post the Rio Olympics was one of them and the 27-year old added that he wanted to win gold in Jakarta in honor of his mother.

"A medal should come considering the times I have been producing but in rowing it is all about the wind. Pune was okay but here you never know about the wind. It stops and them comes from nowhere. So impossible to say what time will be good enough for a medal.

"Wo burawaqttha (it was tough then). But now it drives me to do something good in my life. I know my mother is watching from above and is praying for gold," said the soft-spoken Bhokanal," Army man Bhokanal told PTI sources.

Bhokanal’s average time has been around the 7-minute mark and two weeks ago while training in Pune he also repeated the time he clocked in Rio Olympics - 6:54.96. At Incheon Asian Games four years ago, Iran's Mohsen Shadi won the gold medal with a time of 7.05.66.

Indian rowing has undergone a dramatic change ever since the appointment of hard-hitting Romanian coach, Nicolae Gioga. Bhakanal revealed the drastic changes that the coach has brought about in terms of training routine and diet plans.

"The foreign coach wants performance and he doesn't care if we are in pain. If we were doing 20 km in a day, we are now doing 36-40 km," added the champion rower.

A rather large group of 34 rowers, all from the Indian Army except one, have traveled to Palembang in search for a medal. Gioga added that he expected at least two medals from his boys in Palembang.

"Sometimes they have back pain, sometimes butt pain or some pain or the other. I know what to do to increase speed of the boat. But I can only do that if their health is normal. They cannot follow my regime, I destroy them, said the Romanian, who is contracted till Tokyo Olympics.

"We are not looking at Asian Games. I am preparing them for Olympics. Having said that, these Games are important too. I expect minimum two gold medals and medals in seven events. But the boys need to aim higher (Olympics)," Gioga added.

Asian Games | Olympics rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal targets gold for late mother

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