How two Army Havildars put India on world rowing map with first ever World Cup Gold

It was a photo-finish victory that saw the two Indian Army soldiers outlast global rivals, with Hong Kong and the Netherlands finishing behind them.

The Campaign: From Visa Heartbreak to Global Domination For Indian Rowers

What makes this historic gold even more remarkable is the chaotic logistical nightmare that preceded it. The Indian squad missed World Cup II in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, after their passports were stuck at the Bulgarian embassy. 

With only five days left to secure Swiss visas, a late intervention by the External Affairs and Sports Ministries saved their season. They arrived in Switzerland with zero international competitive races under their belts this year — and immediately went to work.

Entering as dark horses, Lakshay and Ujjwal showed remarkable composure through the qualifying rounds, conserving energy while executing clean water-displacements to punch their ticket directly into the A-Final.

In the final, while their Dutch and Hong Kong rivals relied on a high stroke rate of 40 strokes per minute, the Indian Havildars remained composed, holding a highly efficient rhythm of 36 strokes per minute. They led from the front and held off a brutal final-stretch surge from the Europeans and Hong Kong duos to secure the gold.

Contextualising the Feat: Where India Stood Before The Rowing World Cup Gold

To truly appreciate what these two soldiers achieved in Lucerne, one must look at India’s historical baseline across different tiers of international rowing.

At the World Rowing Cup level, this was India’s first-ever gold medal in the history of the circuit. The country’s previous best was limited to isolated bronze medals — one in the women’s lightweight quadruple sculls in 2009, and others in the para-pairs categories in 2019.

At the Olympic level, India’s footprint has been steady but distant from the podium. The benchmark performance remains Dattu Bhokanal, an Army Junior Commissioned Officer who reached the quarterfinals of the Men’s Single Sculls at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finishing 13th overall.

At the Asian Games, India have punched harder but gold has remained rare. India’s first-ever Asian Games rowing gold was won by Asian Rowing Championships Bajrang Lal Takhar in 2010. India has won two rowing gold medals at the Asian Games in total — in Guangzhou 2010 and Jakarta 2018 — while the team returned with five medals, including two silver and three bronze, from the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. The 2018 gold came in the Men’s Quadruple Sculls, won by Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal and their crewmates.

India’s recent form has been considerably stronger. At the 2025 edition in Hai Phong, Vietnam, India finished with 10 medals — three gold, five silver and two bronze — across 15 events. Balraj Panwar won gold in the men’s single sculls, while Ajay Tyagi and Lokeshwar Singh took gold in the lightweight men’s double scull and the men’s quadruple scull crew also topped the podium. Ujjwal Kumar Singh himself was part of that campaign, winning silver in the lightweight men’s quadruple scull.

The Asian Games and Asian Championships record underscores the central point: India has long been a continental force. Lucerne marks the first time that force has been applied directly against the Europeans on a world stage — and found them wanting.

The Message from Lucerne

According to Balaji Maradapa, President of the Rowing Federation of India, this gold medal fundamentally alters the psychological makeup of the national team. “Today we beat a European team and Hong Kong, who are a very strong sculling nation. We have been winning medals in Asia, now every Indian rower will believe we can beat the Europeans too,” he said.