Balraj Panwar Aims for Repechage After Fourth Place Finish in Rowing

India’s lone rower, Balraj Panwar, faced a tough challenge at the Tokyo Olympics as he finished fourth in the heats of the men’s single sculls event.

On July 27, Balraj competed against a field of strong contenders, including Thomas Mackintosh from New Zealand, Stefanos Ntouskos from Greece, and Abdelkhalek Elbanna from Egypt. Unfortunately, despite a solid effort, he missed out on direct qualification for the quarterfinals.

Balraj started strong and held his ground early in the race, but Elbanna quickly caught up to him. At the first checkpoint, Balraj was just a step behind Elbanna, completing the 500 meters with a time of 1:43.53, while Elbanna clocked in at 1:41.94.

As the race continued, Balraj pressed hard, matching Elbanna’s pace through the 1000 meters. However, Mackintosh had already surged ahead of the competition, making it a race for the remaining spots.

As they entered the final 100 meters, Balraj pushed even harder, ensuring that Elbanna felt the pressure. But in the end, the Egyptian managed to hold on, while Balraj now looks ahead to the repechage round for another chance at advancing.

Guiding Balraj in this journey is former Olympian Bajrang Lal Takhar, who is coaching him in Paris after having secured a spot at the Olympics himself for the first time in 16 years, albeit as a coach this time.

Excited yet reflective, Takhar shared his pride in coaching, noting that his goal is to extract the best performance from Balraj. He also mentioned aiming for semifinals, with Dattu Bhokanal’s previous performance in Rio setting a benchmark to beat.

Before the Olympics, Balraj trained in Gravelines and will hope his hard work pays off in the upcoming repechage round. Despite the setbacks, there’s determination and hope for a better outcome in this prestigious event.