I thought it was a minor thing but it got aggravated, says Dattu Baban Bhokanal
Having lost a medal in the single sculls event due to ill health, Dattu Baban Bhokanal has revealed that he had underestimated his illness in an event in Kolkata, reported PTI. Despite health issues, Dattu won a gold medal in the team sculls event and was grateful to his partners, who supported him.
Dattu Baban Bhokanal has revealed that he had caught cold while traveling to Indonesia. However, the magnanimity of the tournament forced him to dismiss the issue initially writing it off as a minor thing, but his health deteriorated significantly after that, resulting in the loss of a medal in single sculls, which he considered his pet event.
Dattu was mostly in the second position, during the long event. However, he seemed to freeze, when he reached 1200m and eventually finished in the sixth position as his boat capsized. He further stated that his teammates were a great support to him as they went on to achieve a gold medal in the team sculls event.
“I thought it was a minor thing but it got aggravated after landing there because of the climate change from Pune. On the race day, I rowed with 104-plus fever and the boat also toppled to add to the misery. Water got into my ears and nose and I lost out on a definite gold medal," Bhokanal said reported PTI, during a felicitation at the Calcutta Rowing Club on Saturday.
“I returned with empty-handed from my favourite event. But my teammates stood by me and told me 'don't worry we can still win the team event'," he recalled.
Dattu chose to take full rest before the team event. Om Prakash, Sawarn Singh, and Sukhmeet Singh were fit, which helped a lot considering Dattu’s health issues and fragile state due to consumption of a lot of antibiotics. They adopted a different strategy in the team event and increased their gas use in the last 500m. Effectively, they won the race by three seconds, clinching the gold.
However, India's outstation coach Nicolae Gioga was fired hours later, after India bagged the gold. The relation between the Romanian coach and the Indian rowers were quite hostile. Gioga had openly lashed out on the rowers and in
“I do not want to comment on that. I took advice from our Indian coach as well and foreign coach too. I have delivered under both of them so I would not like to blame anyone," Bhokanal said.
Indian coach Ismail Baig, however, mentioned that they had compatibility issues with the coach from Romania.
“He has a brilliant track record. But it just did not click with us. He never listened to the players and went about his ways," Baig said.
Dushyant Chauhan was also felicitated in the
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