SportsPosted at: Sep 24 2026 12:12PM


Two journeys, one boat: Satnam-Salman’s Asian Games story

Aichi-Nagoya, Sept 24 (UNI) One switched sports after an Olympian spotted his potential, the other twice contemplated quitting before his coaches pulled him back. Years later, Satnam Singh and Salman Khan have arrived at the same destination — an Asian Games rowing podium.
Their bronze medal in the men's double sculls here on Thursday was the latest chapter in two very different journeys that converged in India's rowing boat.
For Satnam, rowing was never the sport with which he began.
Hailing from Punjab's Mansa district, he competed in handball at the national level before making the switch to rowing in 2018. Olympian Swarn Singh Virk recognised his physical potential and encouraged him to take up the sport.
The decision transformed his sporting career.
Satnam represented India at the 2018 Youth Olympics and subsequently won the men's single sculls title at the 40th Senior National Rowing Championships, becoming the first Indian Navy rower to claim the prestigious title.
His breakthrough at the Asian level came at the Hangzhou Games in 2023, where he was part of India's bronze-winning men's quadruple sculls crew.
Even at Hangzhou, the journey was not without adversity. A physical setback threatened to disrupt his campaign, but Satnam returned to competition and helped the Indian crew secure a podium finish.
Salman's story began in a very different setting.
After joining the Bombay Engineer Group of the Indian Army in 2018, he was introduced to rowing by coaches Satywan, Satish Siraat and Prabhat Mishra, who saw promise in him and selected him for the centre's rowing team.
Early medals at battalion and inter-centre competitions suggested that he had found his sport, but the road ahead was far from straightforward.
Salman twice came close to walking away from rowing.
On both occasions, it was the faith of his coaches that persuaded him to stay. Their encouragement eventually took him to the Army Rowing Node, where he trained under senior coach Kudrat Ali and Training Officer Major Nagendra Hooda.
The results followed.
Salman was inducted into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme in 2023, gaining access to elite training and sports science support. A year later, he won a medal at the Asian Rowing Cup, an achievement that also brought him promotion to Naib Subedar in the Indian Army.
Now, Satnam and Salman have another medal to add to their journeys — and this one carries the weight of an Asian Games podium.
Their stories began on different playing fields: one on a handball court in Punjab, the other inside an Army sporting centre. But the journey to Aichi-Nagoya has been shaped by the same ingredients — opportunity, persistence and the people who refused to let them give up.
On Thursday, the two sat in the same boat and turned those individual struggles into a shared Asian Games success.
UNI BDN
Tags: #Two journeys# one boat: Satnam-Salman’s Asian Games story
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