The skill of rowing owes its origins to the ancient civilisations of Egypt,
Phoenicia, Greek, Rome, China and India. In those days boats and barges were the easiest
and the most economical ways of travel. Though the Egyptians are believed to have held
rowing races, it is the Chinese who first engaged in the sport of long boat racing on
rivers and tidal waters. Even today Chinese festivals are marked by traditional dragon
boat races. In Kerala, traditional snake boat races are an integral part of 'Onam'
celebrations. Even in Thailand and Burma, paddle oar racing goes back to the dawn of
history. In many countries where rowing has not developed as a competitive sport, it
remains associated with religious celebrations.
Rowing in its modern form originated in England and the first race using a light craft is
reported to have been held in 1715 on the Thames River between London and Chelsea. The
sport gained in Popularity after it was included in the Olympics in 1900.
Rowing in India was patronised by the British as early as 1835. The first rowing, club was
formed in Calcutta in 1858 and the Madras rowing club was formed in 1867. With West Bengal
and Tamil Nadu playing an important role, the Rowing Federation of India was formed in
1976 and the first national championship was held in West Bengal in 1977. Rowing was
included in the 1982 Delhi Asian Games. The team of G.S. Karpreetinder, Arun Naik and D.
Tomar won a bronze medal in the coxed pairs event. India's best showing was the gold medal
in the coxed fours event in the third Asian rowing championships in Chandigarh in 1989 by
the team comprising
Dilip Kumar, G.D. Ghorai, Jasbir Singh, V.V.R. Rao and Kumar.
In the above championships, the Indian men also got silver medals in single and double
sculls and a bronze in open coxed fours. Salome Patrick also became the first Indian woman
to win an international rowing medal, when she claimed the bronze in the women's open
single sculls.
India first participated in the world championships in 1983 at Duisburg in then West
Germany. |