Unfazed, they delivered a bronze medal in Nagaragawa International Regatta Course on Thursday — India’s first in the event — clocking 6:13.25 minutes. When Satnam Singh and Salman Khan departed for the Asian Games, they were pencilled in for quadruple sculls along with Jakar Khan and Balraj Panwar. However, following the controversial rejig of team combinations, the duo was sent to compete in double sculls in place of Navdeep Singh and Kulwinder Singh.
“I won’t say we were not affected by it, but we decided to give our best. I was also part of the quadruple team that won a bronze there. “The failure in Hangzhou had haunted me all these years and I was waiting for this Asiad to redeem myself.
We were on course for a silver in 2023 but I was exhausted and passed out which had cost us a second-place result.
It helped that me and Salman have been training together for seven months for quadruple sculls, so we had good understanding,” Satnam told HT. So all that weighed heavy on me coming into the competition,” Satnam said.
Hailing from Fatta Maluka village in Punjab’s Mansa district, Satnam is employed in Indian Navy as a Chief Petty Officer. A former national-level handball player, Satnam also dabbled with volleyball growing up and took to rowing after being inspired by London Olympian Swarn Singh Virk. Youngest of three siblings, Satnam grew up in a family of limited means. His father, Amrik Singh, grew cotton on their farm while his mother Harjeet Kaur, tailored clothes to help the family get by. “I am happy to have given them something to cheer about after all these years. I had promised my mom that I’ll make up for that Hangzhou heartbreak. “There is something about Mansa that it produces strong people. Swarn Singh and double Asiad medallist rower Sukhmeet Singh are also from here. Also from the city is late Punjabi singer Siddhu Moosewala, another of Satnam’s heroes. “He remains an absolute star. “It feels like a dream come true. I was expecting to win a medal at the Asian Games, and I am delighted that I could fulfil that expectation.
I am happy to have done that,” he said. A lot of our boys join the army,” Satnam said. I listen to his songs while warming-up,” he said. But this is only the beginning; my next target is the Los Angeles Olympics,” Salman, a Naib Sudedar in the army, said.
