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Born | Sikar District, Rajasthan, India | 5 January 1981||||||||||||||||||||
Military career | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Unit | Rajputana Rifles | ||||||||||||||||||||
Awards | Padma Shri | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Naib Subedar Bajrang Lal Takhar (born 5 January 1981 in Sikar district, Rajasthan) is an Indian rower who won the first individual rowing Gold medal for India at the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou. [1] [2] [3] Takhar is a Naib Subedar in the Rajputana Rifles regiment of the Indian Army. [4]
Bajrang Lal won the first individual rowing silver medal for India at the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha [5] He contested in the men's single sculls rowing event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but failed to reach the finals. He finished with a rank of 21.
He then went on to bag gold at the Asian Championships in Korea last year 2007. He won the quota place by winning gold at the Asian qualifying championships in Shanghai. [5]
He has won two gold medals in the single and double scull races in South Asian Games 2006.
In November 2010, he won the first individual rowing Gold medal for India at the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou.
Honorary Captain Vijay Kumar Sharma, AVSM, SM is an Indian sport shooter. He won the silver medal in the individual 25 metre rapid fire pistol event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Kumar hails from Barsar village of Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh and is a retired Subedar Major in the Dogra Regiment Indian Army, who was later promoted to Honorary Captain Rank. Vijay Kumar is supported by the Olympic Gold Quest initiative. He is the only Indian to have won a medal at 25m rapid Fire Pistol. He has been posted at Indian Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) Mhow since 2003 where he is being coached by the Russian Pavel Smirnov.
The men's single sculls competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held between 9 and 16 August, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. There were 32 competitors from 32 nations. The event was won by Olaf Tufte of Norway, the fifth man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the event. The silver medal went to Ondřej Synek of the Czech Republic, the nation's first medal in the event. Mahé Drysdale of New Zealand earned bronze. Both Synek and Drysdale would go on to win medals in the event again in 2012 and 2016.
The men's single sculls competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona was held from 27 July to 1 August at Lake of Banyoles. The event was an open-style, individual rowing event conducted as part of the Rowing at the 1992 Summer Olympics programme. There were 22 competitors from 22 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Thomas Lange of Germany, the fourth man to successfully repeat as Olympic champion. It was the first appearance of "Germany" since 1936, though German rowers representing the United Team of Germany, West Germany, and East Germany had won 10 medals in 8 Games from 1960 to 1988. Václav Chalupa of Czechoslovakia took silver, that nation's first medal in the men's single sculls. Poland's Kajetan Broniewski earned that nation's first medal in the event since 1960 with his bronze.
The men's single sculls competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place at Dorney Lake which, for the purposes of the Games venue, was officially termed Eton Dorney. It was held from 28 July to 3 August. There were 33 competitors from 33 nations. The event was won by Mahé Drysdale of New Zealand, the nation's first victory in the event since 2000. Ondřej Synek of the Czech Republic earned his second consecutive silver in the event; Drysdale and Synek were the 13th and 14th men to win multiple medals in the single sculls; they would go on to be the 5th and 6th to earn three in the event in 2016 when Drysdale repeated as champion and Synek added a bronze. The 2012 bronze went to Alan Campbell, Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1928.
India's history in rowing dates back to the British era. The first club, the Calcutta Rowing Club was founded in 1858. The Rowing Federation of India administers the sport in the country. India's first ever Asian Games gold medal was won by Bajrang Lal Takhar in 2010 but the country has never won an Olympic medal in the sport. Three Indian rowers have qualified for the 2012 London Olympics.
The men's single sculls event was part of the rowing programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was one of seven rowing events for men and was the seventh appearance of the event, which had been on the programme for every Games since rowing was added in 1900. There were 15 competitors, each from a different nation. The event was won by Bobby Pearce of Australia, the nation's first medal in the event. Silver went to Ken Myers of the United States, extending that nation's podium streak to three Games. David Collet of Great Britain took bronze; that nation had also earned a medal each time it appeared and had a five-Games podium streak.
Sawarn Singh is an Indian rower. He primarily competes in single scull events. In 2011 he won bronze at the Asian Rowing Championships. He qualified for 2012 Summer Olympics in Men's single scull event and reached the last 16 with a time of 7:00.49 in the first repechage. The 21-year-old Sawarn Singh Virk secured his spot in the London Olympics by winning his event at the FISA Olympic Continental Qualification Regatta for Asia in Chung Ju, Korea. London Olympics was the maiden Olympics appearance for the Jharkhand National Games gold medallist. He won the 2013 Asian Championships, and won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games. He won the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Men's Quadruple sculls.
The men's single sculls competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia took place at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. It was held from 17 to 23 September. There were 24 competitors from 24 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Rob Waddell of New Zealand, the nation's first victory in the event after bronze medals in 1920 and 1988. Defending champion Xeno Müller of Switzerland placed second, becoming the 11th man to win multiple medals in the event. Marcel Hacker of Germany took bronze; it was the 11th consecutive Games with a German rower on the podium in the event.
Bajrang Punia is an Indian freestyle wrestler, who competes in the 65-kg weight category. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Punia won a bronze medal by defeating Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov with a 8–0 margin. Punia is the only Indian wrestler to win 4 medals at the World Wrestling Championships.
The men's single sculls competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, Australia. The event was held from 23 to 27 November. There were 12 competitors from 12 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Vyacheslav Ivanov of the Soviet Union, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's single sculls Ivanov's first of his three consecutive Olympic titles. He was so thrilled when he was presented with his gold medal that he jumped up and down with joy-and dropped the medal into Lake Wendouree. He immediately dived into the lake to retrieve it, but could not find it. After the games were over he was given a replacement medal. Stuart Mackenzie took silver, making it the second consecutive Games with an Australian runner-up. American John B. Kelly Jr., after missing the finals in 1948 and 1952 by 0.4 seconds and 0.2 seconds respectively, reached the final and took the bronze medal this time.
The men's single sculls competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place at Notre Dame Island Olympic Basin, Canada. The event was held from 18 to 25 July. There were 15 competitors from 15 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Pertti Karppinen of Finland, the nation's first medal in the men's single sculls. Karppinen would go on to win three consecutive golds in the event, matching the Soviet Union's Vyacheslav Ivanov who did the same from 1956 to 1964. Silver went to Peter-Michael Kolbe of West Germany; East Germany took its second consecutive bronze medal in the event, this time with Joachim Dreifke as the rower.
The men's single sculls rowing competition at the 1980 Summer Olympics took place at Krylatskoye Sports Complex Canoeing and Rowing Basin, Moscow, Soviet Union. The event was held from 20 to 27 July. There were 14 competitors from 14 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Pertti Karppinen of Finland, his second of three consecutive victories from 1976 to 1984. Karppinen was the eighth man to win multiple medals in the event. Silver went to Vasil Yakusha of the Soviet Union, the nation's sixth medal in eight Games. East Germany took a third consecutive bronze medal, all by different rowers as Peter Kersten was the nation's men's single sculler this Games.
The men's single sculls competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics took place at Grünau Regatta Course, near Berlin, Germany. The event was held from 11 to 14 August. There were 20 competitors from 20 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Gustav Schäfer of Germany, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal of any colour in the men's single sculls since 1908. Josef Hasenöhrl took silver, Austria's first medal in the event. Dan Barrow earned bronze, extending the United States' podium streak in the event to five Games; the Americans had taken a medal in each of the six times they competed in the event.
The men's single sculls competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was held from 6 to 13 August at the Lagoon Rodrigo de Freitas. There were 32 competitors from 32 nations. The event was won by Mahé Drysdale of New Zealand, the sixth man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the event. He won an exceptionally close final against Damir Martin of Croatia. Martin's silver was Croatia's first medal in the event. Bronze went to Ondřej Synek of the Czech Republic. Both Drysdale and Synek earned their third medal in the event; Drysdale had taken bronze in 2008 before winning in 2012 and 2016, while Synek had twice been the runner-up in 2008 and 2012 before this third-place finish.
Dattu Bhokanal is an Indian rower and an Indian Army Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) who was qualified for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. He was qualified for the Olympics after winning a silver medal in the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-Ju, South Korea where he clocked 7 minutes and 07.63 seconds. He is the only Indian rower to qualify for the Rio Olympics and is only the ninth rower to represent India in the Olympics. He won the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Men's Quadruple sculls.
The men's single sculls event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 23 to 30 July 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. 32 rowers from 32 nations competed.
Deepak Punia is an Indian freestyle wrestler and Naib Subedar in the Indian Army. He won a silver medal at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in the freestyle 86 kg category, where Hassan Yazdani of Iran, a wrestler that Punia idolises, won the final by walkover. Punia's silver medal secured him a place in the 2020 Summer Olympics. He was born in Jhajjar district, Haryana. He faced Yazdani again in the 86 kg final of 2022 Asian Games, but lost 10-0 in a one-sided match.
Parminder Singh is an Indian rower from Haryana, He was selected as part of the Indian team for the rowing competitions in the 2022 Huangzhou Asian Games. He was part of the team that won the bronze medal in the men's quadruple sculls.
Arjun Lal is an Indian rower. He is currently serving in the Indian Army.
Balraj Panwar is an Indian rower from Kaimla, Haryana. He competes in the men's single sculls. He qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the men's single sculls.