Mansa celebrates gold in rowing

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 25

With the Indian squad winning the gold medal in the men’s quadruple sculls event at the Asian Games in Jakarta, celebrations were seen at the houses of team members Sukhmeet Singh and Swaran Singh Virk, both of whom hail from Mansa district, on Friday.

Interestingly, the duo has a lot in common, as they both are serving in the Indian Army and also come from farming backgrounds. Swaran’s family members at Dalelwala village and Sukhmeet’s kin at Kishangarh Farvahi village erupted in joy as soon as the news of the Indian rowing team bagging the gold medal came in.

Swaran’s parents, Gurmukh Singh and Surjeet Kaur, said their family was confident that he would clinch gold for the country. Swaran’s brother Lakhvinder Singh said his brother, an Arjuna Award recipient, has been serving in the Indian Army for the past around 10 years during which his talent in rowing was noticed by senior Army officers. Sukhmeet’s parents, Amrik Singh and Kulwinder Kaur, said he had been an avid follower of the sport right from his childhood days and his hard work had borne fruit now.

Meanwhile, following the directions of Mansa DC Apneet Riyait, Assistant Commissioner (G) Navdeep Kumar visited the residences of the international rowers where he congratulated both the families and honoured them with shawls. The DC also cordially invited family members of both the players for tea at her office and personally congratulated them with sweets. Riyait announced that a grand welcome would be organised on the arrival of both the players in Mansa. “Today’s achievement of both the players shows that there is no dearth of talent in Mansa. The young boys would inspire a lot of other children in the state,” she said.