The president of the Rowing Federation of India, K P Singh Deo, and general secretary, Col. C P Singh Deo, signed an agreement with Dundee for the next six years until 2006.

Under the agreement, Dundee will be the exclusive sponsor of the Indian rowing team in both domestic and international events. Dundee will also introduce the Dundee Trophy for junior, sub-junior and senior national level events.

According to Vinay Lamba, president of Dundee Financial Services Pvt. Ltd and a former cricket captain of Delhi and the North Zone, ``Why our interest in rowing? There are two basic reasons. First, our principal company (Dundee Bancorp Inc.), which is Canada-based, is the official sponsor of the Canadian rowing team. Therefore, we are emulating our principals. Secondly, when the Indian team qualified in the `Coxswain Lespaire' event, we thought we must support it.''

Rowing is all about individuals working in tandem, each member must pull together in a cohesive manner in the same direction to reach a destination, and this is what Dundee too is all about, Lamba says.

The main aim of the rowing team is to get a medal place in the 2004 Olympics and a gold in the forthcoming Asian games.

Dundee wants to cultivate the rowing culture in India too, says Lamba. ``And towards this goal, we are sponsoring the national championships, Dundee National Championships for men, women, and junior level across the country. We are also planning to finance potential rowers for international training. The aim is to help the athletes and not the federation,'' he explains.

``Since we are sponsoring the major events in this sport, the federation will send us the calendar of events throughout the year, so that we are able to follow the proceedings and pick out the best athletes,'' he adds.

At a later stage, Lamba hopes that Dundee will invest in other sports too. And that includes cricket.