Tezzbuzz Desk- A controversy related to the Indian rowing team has come to light during the Asian Games 2026. Many types of challenges have come up in the ongoing games in Aichi-Nagoya till now, but this time the controversy is related to the Indian team. According to reports, the Indian rowers are unhappy with the changes made by the team management just before the start of their event. Some rowers are also considering going on strike in protest against the decision to change events and crews.
Rowing events at the Asian Games 2026 were initially scheduled to start from September 20. However, the rowing competitions were postponed until September 23 due to the threat of Typhoon Dujuan. After this the players were told that the team management had made changes in many entries. Some players have been removed from their previously scheduled events and sent to other events. This has come to light affecting the players' preparations and strategy. According to the report of Sportstar, an Indian rower, on the condition of anonymity, said that the players are mentally hurt and are in no mood to train. The main reason for the players' displeasure is that the event for which they had prepared for a long time, they were shifted to another event just before the competition. As part of the changes made in the team, Navdeep Singh and Kulwinder Singh, who were included in the men's double sculls, were shifted to the quadruple sculls. Whereas Salman and Satnam, who were part of quadruple sculls, were shifted to double sculls. Balraj Panwar was moved from quadruple sculls to single sculls, while Arvind Singh was moved from single sculls to quadruple sculls.
Apart from this, Vipul Ghurde was sent from men's pair to coxless four. Reserve player Saurav Kumar was ruled out of the event, while Jasmail Singh, who was the first reserve, was included in the coxless four. Nitin Kumar and Jaswinder Singh have also been removed from the coxless four and sent to the men's pair. Rowing Federation of India has given its reasons for these changes. According to the Federation, the purpose of these changes is to increase India's chances of winning medals. In fact, due to bad weather the time available for rowing competitions has reduced. Earlier these events were to be held over five days from 20th to 24th September, but according to the revised schedule, now they are to be held on 23rd and 24th September.
Under the new schedule, all qualifying races will be held on the first day and the finals on the second day. There will be no semi-finals. The federation says rowing is a grueling sport and it can be difficult for players to compete multiple times in a short period of time. For this reason, changes have been made in the crew. However, this decision has been objected to by the players. One rower told Sportstar that rowing is a sport entirely based on coordination and coordination. Players say that they have trained for their scheduled events for about six months after the start of the national camp and it is difficult for them to change the event just two days before the competition. Now it remains to be seen how this dispute between the players and the Federation is resolved and how the Indian rowing team competes in the Asian Games.