India’s Arjun and Sunil wins 1st medal in canoe event after 1994

Canoers Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam combined well to win India’s first medal at the Asian Games since 1994, claiming bronze in the men’s double 1000m event here on Tuesday.
The Indian pair finished third with a time of 3:53.329 seconds, the country’s only second medal in the event in the history of the Games.
In the 1994 Hiroshima edition of the Games, India won the bronze medal in the same event through Saiji Sadanandan and Johnny Rommel.
Uzbekistan’s Shokhmurod Kholmuradov and Nurislom Tukhtasin Ugli won gold with 3:43.796 seconds, while Kazakhstan’s Timofey Yemelyanov and Sergey Yemelyanov took silver with 3:49.991 seconds.
Both Sunil and Arjun are currently training in Bhopal under Chief Coach Pijush Baroi. Sunil is 24 years old and hails from Moirang in Manipur’s Bishnupur district, Arjun, 16, hails from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh but has now shifted to Roorkee in Uttarakhand.
Sunil, who is competing in his second Asian Games since the 2018 edition, said the bronze here overcame the disappointment in Jakarta.
“In 2018, we could have won a medal in the same event but things turned sour after my partner fell ill on the day of the competition.
We competed but could not do our best. Now, it’s second time lucky for me (here),” Sunil said after the event.
Arjun said he could not have asked for a better result in his first Asian Games. “It’s a dream come true for me, and we’re only the second medalists.
A medal in my first Asian Games, I can’t ask for more. My mother will be really happy,” he said.