India Rowing Ends Asian Games 2026 With One Medal Amid Dispute

India’s rowing campaign at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya ended with one bronze medal, its poorest performance at the continental event in 24 years, after late changes to entries and an internal dispute overshadowed the competition.

Salman Khan and Satnam Singh provided India’s only podium finish by taking bronze in the men’s doubles sculls. The pair had been moved from the men’s quadruple sculls less than 48 hours before racing began, yet still delivered the lone medal of an otherwise difficult campaign at the Nagaragawa Regatta International Course.

India entered eight events, with five progressing to Final A, or medal-final, competition. The outcome marked a sharp decline from the delayed 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where India won five rowing medals, including two silver and three bronze. At the 2018 Jakarta Games, India collected three medals, including gold in the quadruple sculls.

Late changes leave India with one podium finish

The late reshuffle affected several of India’s leading crews. Khan, Singh and Olympian Balraj Panwar were among the rowers initially listed for the men’s quadruple sculls before being assigned to different events. India finished fifth in the quadruple sculls, while Nitin Kumar and Jaswinder Singh, whose men’s pair entry was also affected by the switches, did not reach Final A.

Ajay Tyagi competed in lightweight men’s singles sculls, while India’s men’s four teams were eliminated in the heats. The results meant India did not have a boat in every men’s rowing medal final for the first time since 2002.

According to the Rowing Federation of India website, India’s Asian Games rowing history began with a bronze medal when the sport made its debut at the 1982 New Delhi Games. The 1986 Seoul edition is listed as the only Games in which India did not medal in rowing, although India did not send a team that year. The 2026 outcome brought the team close to an unwanted first empty-handed return before the doubles sculls bronze.

Federation president Balaji Maradapa said the event decisions were taken to maximise medal prospects after a typhoon warning condensed the four-day rowing programme into two days. Antony Patterson, the Australian head coach working with the Indian setup since June 2024, publicly defended the decision.

However, the switches prompted a major backlash from athletes, with reports that some rowers considered withdrawing from competition after being removed from events for which they had prepared. Maradapa denied allegations that he threatened athletes with consequences if they did not compete and said the rowers’ actions in taking their concerns to the media were influenced externally.

Coaching rift adds to fallout from campaign

The controversy unfolded against a wider disagreement over the coaching setup. Long-serving coach Ismail Baig, a Dronacharya awardee, was sidelined before the Games. Baig said he had not received a formal answer from the federation over his role and maintained that he remained national coach because he had not been given formal notice otherwise.

Maradapa said the federation was looking towards a medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and wanted foreign coaching input to move beyond Asian Games and Asian Championships standards. He also questioned whether Baig had a current formal nomination as national coach.

An unnamed rower told the source that athletes were unhappy with communication under Patterson, particularly because many were not comfortable with English and received information indirectly. The rower also said the group credited Baig’s work for India’s haul of three gold, five silver and two bronze medals at the 2025 Asian Championships, where both Baig and Patterson were present.

Whatever the reasons behind the dispute, the medal table is the clearest measure of India’s difficult week in Aichi-Nagoya. Khan and Singh’s bronze prevented a medal-less campaign, but India’s one-medal return and the surrounding controversy left the rowing programme facing significant questions after the Games.