Satnam Singh, Salman Khan Win Rowing Bronze In Men's Double Sculls At Asian Games 2026

Indian rowers Satnam Singh and Salman Khan won a bronze medal in the men's double sculls final at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Thursday morning, giving India its first-ever Asian Games medal in the event and adding another entry to the country's growing tally at these Games.

The Indian pair clocked 6:13.25 in the Final A race, which got under way early in the morning local time. China's Yi Xudi and Nie Yide won gold in 6:09.77, while Uzbekistan's Pavel Sorin and Mekhrojbek Mamatkulov claimed silver in 6:10.49, edging out the Indian duo in a tightly contested finish.

A Race That Stayed Close Till The End

Satnam and Salman were in strong contention for a higher finish for much of the race, holding second position at the 500m, 1000m and 1500m markers and staying within half a second of the Chinese boat, which led from the front throughout. It was only in the closing stretch that Uzbekistan's pair found an extra gear to move past the Indians and secure silver, leaving Satnam and Salman to settle for bronze.

What makes the result particularly notable is the timeline behind it. The duo had been competing together in the quadruple sculls before being moved into the double sculls just three days ahead of the event, a late reshuffle that left little time to build the kind of race-specific chemistry that typically comes from months of training in a fixed boat combination. Producing a podium finish under those circumstances speaks to the depth Indian rowing has built in recent years, with the coaching setup evidently confident enough in individual rowers' versatility to make such last-minute changes without it costing a medal.

Part Of A Strong Overall Games Run

The bronze added to what has already been a solid campaign for the Indian rowing and broader sporting contingent at Aichi-Nagoya. India's medal tally at the Games has been built on contributions from multiple disciplines, including shooting, cricket and squash, and Thursday's rowing result continues that trend of medals arriving from sports that do not always dominate headlines back home but form the backbone of India's overall count at multi-discipline events like the Asian Games.

Elsewhere in the rowing programme on the same day, India's Balraj Panwar competed in the men's single sculls but fell short of a podium finish, a reminder that success across a rowing squad's various boat classes rarely comes uniformly even when the broader programme is in good health.

For Satnam Singh and Salman Khan, the bronze is a reward for adaptability under pressure, and for Indian rowing more broadly, it is another data point suggesting the sport's investment in depth across boat classes is beginning to pay dividends on the continental stage.

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