Dattu Baban Bhokanal
Naib Subedar Dattu Bhokanal is an Indian rower and an Indian Army Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) who was qualified for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.[1][2][3] He was qualified for the Olympics after winning a silver medal in the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-Ju, South Korea where he clocked 7 minutes and 07.63 seconds.[3] He is the only Indian rower to qualify for the Rio Olympics and is only the ninth rower to represent India in the Olympics. He won the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Men's Quadruple sculls.[4][5]
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 5 April 1991 Talegaon Rohi Tal: Chandwad, Dist: Nashik, Maharastra, India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance |  India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service/ |  Indian Army | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank |  Naib Subedar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking | World's 13th Rank | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
Dattu was born in 1991 to farmer and stone-crushing laborer parents, Mr. Baban Bhokanal and Mrs. Ashabai Bhokanal, in Talegaon-Rohi, a tiny village in Nasik District of Maharashtra State in India.
Dattu's family could hardly meet both the ends with parents' meager earning as daily wage laborers.[6][7] Hence, he dropped off the school in 2007 to do all kinds of odd jobs such as masonry, waiter in the wedding parties, helper on the farms, as a driver on tractors, earth movers, and other transportation vehicles.[8][9] He started helping his father in well-digging work since 5th grade[10] and in fact, that hard work helped him to build his stamina and strong arms required in rowing. At some point of time Dattu had also decided to become a well-digger.[11] He used to work at a petrol pump at night and on the farm in the day time to support his family. He went back to school in 2010 to complete his 10th grade. However, he could not continue his education because of untimely death of his father in 2011. Dattu's father died due to bone cancer. After demise of his father, being the eldest in the family he needed a permanent job to support his family. In 2012, Dattu cleared all physical tests at the Indian Army's open recruitment drive in Beed district and got selected in the Indian Army as Havaldar.
Shortly before his planned departure for FISA Asia Oceania Olympic Qualifier in South Korea in 2016, his mother suffered brain damage in a fall resulting in almost total amnesia which ultimately resulted in her death.[8] Dattu was the sole rower representing India in 2016 Rio Olympic games.[12]
Today Dattu is India's one of the top rowers. But ironically he grew up in a region where scarcity of water and dry drought is a normal phenomenon.[13][14] In fact, in his childhood Dattu was terrified of waterbodies which he confessed in his interview with Virender Sehwag.[15] Dattu has been named in the Forbes 30-under-30 list in 2017.[16] Dr. Santosh Khedalekar wrote the biography of Dattu in Marathi "Dattu-The Rowing Man".
Rowing career
He started rowing in 2012 at the Bombay Engineer Group & Centre (Khadki) Centre in Pune. In 2013, he shifted to Army Rowing Node (ARN), Pune for better training. His first coach was Kudrat Ali. Now he is being trained under Dronacharya Awardee and chief National rowing coach Ismail Baig at the ARN, Pune.
Dattu was the lone Indian rower to be qualified after winning a silver medal in the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic qualification regatta held at Chung-Ju in South Korea in 2016.[17] He clocked 7 Minutes and 7.63 Seconds to complete the 2 km course to finish second.
In Rio Olympics 2016, Dattu secured 13th position by clocking 6 minutes and 54.96 seconds.[18] In the same year, Dattu won Gold medal at American National Championship at Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Dattu Bhokanal won gold medal in quadruple sculls at Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang 2018 with timing 6 Minutes and 17.13 Seconds.
Dattu has been awarded Arjuna Award by the Government of India in 2020 for his achievements in the sport of rowing.[19]
Achievements
Senior National Championship
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Pune | Men's Single Sculls | 7:26 min | Gold | 2 |
| 2017 | Pune | Men's Single Sculls | Gold | 2 |
Asian Games
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Incheon | Men's Double Sculls | 6:47 min | 5th |
Asian Rowing Championship
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Beijing | Men's Single Sculls | 7:18 min | Silver | 1 |
FISA Asia Oceania Olympic Qualifier
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Chungju | Men's Single Sculls | 7:07 min | Silver | 1 |
American National Championship
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Cincinnati | Men's Single Sculls | 7:04 min | Gold | 1 |
Rio Olympics
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Rio de Janeiro | Men's Single Sculls | 6:54.96 min | 13th[20] |
Indoor National Championship
| Year | Venune | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Pune | Men's Single Sculls | 6:32 min | Gold | 1 |
Asian Games
| Year | Venue | Competition | Time | Result | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Jakarta | Men's Quadruple Sculls | 6:17 min | Gold | 1 |
| 2018 | Jakarta | Men's Single Sculls | 7:47 min | 5th |
Awards
| Year | Award | Awarded By |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Best Player & Rising Star | Rowing Federation of India |
| 2017 | Honored in the 30 Under 30 list | Forbes Magazine |
| 2017 | Times of India Best Player | Times of India Group |
| 2017 | Shiv Chhatrapati Award | Government of Maharashtra |
| 2020 | Arjuna Award | Government of India |
References
- "Indian Olympic Association Link" (PDF).
- "It was a hard row to hoe for him to reach Rio". The Hindu. 2016-05-04. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
- "India's #RioOlympics Rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal Comes From A Village Without Water". Retrieved 2016-06-24.
- "Asian Games: Indian rowers claim 1 gold, 2 bronze medals". The Times of India. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- "Indian rowers claim gold, 2 bronze medals". The Economic Times. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- Sumnima Udas. "Rowing from a drought-stricken Indian village to Rio De Janeiro". CNN. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- Gupta, Deepak (2016-08-10). "Shobhaa De, have you heard the story about the Olympian Dattu Bhokanal? Because, you should!". India News, Breaking News, Entertainment News | India.com. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f3xz8ALoQc
- https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/how-indias-rowing-star-dattu-bhokanal-overcame-poverty-win-gold-asiad-88105
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgd4DnKhBlg
- https://www.sportskeeda.com/rowing/rowing-in-rough-weather-dattu-bhokanal-olympic-gold
- http://www.worldrowing.com/athletes/athlete/47540/bhokanal-dattu
- "Dattu Bhokanal goes from drought-stricken India village to rowing at Rio Olympics". The National. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPuJwwSUI_s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojFICbkO73E
- "How Dattu Bhokanal Overcame Grief And Fear To Earn His Stripes As An Olympic Rower". Forbes India. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/india-rower-dattu-bhokanal-qualifies-for-rio-olympics-2016-2769488/#:~:text=Indian%20rower%20Dattu%20Bhokanal%20on,Chung%2Dju%20in%20South%20Korea.&text=The%20top%20seven%20in%20the%20finals%20qualified%20for%20the%20Rio%20Games
- "Rio 2016 single sculls (1x) men - Olympic Rowing". International Olympic Committee. 2019-03-09. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- "'A proud moment for me', says Rower Dattu Bhokanal on winning Arjuna Award | Sports-Games". Devdiscourse. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- "Rio 2016 single sculls (1x) men - Olympic Rowing". International Olympic Committee. 2019-03-09. Retrieved 2020-10-18.