Arvind Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and Arjun Lal Jat (Rajasthan) will face the biggest challenge of countering the rough waters in the lightweight double sculls category in rowing at the Tokyo Olympics.
Born to farmers, the two were handpicked by the chief national coach Ismail Baig only two years ago to compete in double sculls.
Arvind says the first target when he started rowing was to clinch the Asian Games gold in 2018.
“We didn’t have any problem in adapting to the conditions which were quite okay then but are told they will be different for the Games competition — more rough and extremely challenging,” Arvind said.
“The preparations are going really well at the ARN in a bio-bubble for the last few months with three sessions daily,” he said.
“There is absolutely no pressure on us. We will just go there and try to give our best for sure. We won’t talk big. But, we will not be short of effort and commitment,” he said.
Arjun insists the focus in training has been to improve the timings and doing a lot of strengthening exercises.
“Being the first Olympics for both of us, we are definitely excited as not many get the chance to be there,” Arjun said.
Baig is more pragmatic in his approach. “Our first target is to make it to the B-final featuring the top 12 teams and then look ahead. We don’t want to invite any sort of pressure,” he said.
“The rough waters of the course, which is very close to the sea, are a major challenge as we have been training on flat waters in Pune.
“Unfortunately we cannot move out to any other centre because of the strict quarantine rules,” he added.
