In Hai Phong, Vietnam, the quiet waters bore witness to a historic shift in Indian rowing. When Gurbani Kaur and Diljot Kaur crossed the finish line to clinch Silver in the Lightweight Women’s Coxless Pair (LW2-) at the 2025 Asian Rowing Championships, they did more than win a medal they reignited belief in Indian women’s rowing after 14 long years.
The last time an Indian women’s crew had stood on a major continental podium was at the 2010 Asian Games, when Pratima Puhan and Pramila Prava Minz won bronze in Guangzhou. Between then and now, the sport drifted in obscurity lacking resources, recognition, and the institutional push needed to turn promise into performance. The 2024 silver, therefore, stands as both redemption and roadmap: the result of focused investment, scientific coaching, and a long-overdue acknowledgment that women’s rowing deserved its place in India’s high-performance ecosystem. The 2024 breakthrough carries historical weight.
It ended a medal drought that reflected systemic neglect. For over a decade, India’s women rowers struggled to translate domestic dominance into continental results. The 2024 Silver is thus not an isolated success, but the first tangible outcome of a strategic high-performance revival a result of the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) partnering with the Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) to provide structured training, foreign expertise, and scientific conditioning.
IIS and RFI Join Forces to Revolutionize Indian Women Rowing Ahead of 2026 Asian Games
The athletes’ success also underlines the depth emerging from university and state-level programs. Gurbani Kaur and Diljot Kaur, both products of the Punjab University system, have dominated the national circuit winning golds at the Senior Nationals and Khelo India events. Their domestic partnership matured into continental silver, illustrating how a stable, university-fed pipeline can serve as a viable feeder for elite rowing when supported by institutional backing.
Inside the Boat: The Technical Brilliance Behind the Silver
Rowing in the Lightweight Women’s Coxless Pair (LW2-) demands exceptional precision. Without a coxswain to steer, one rower must guide the shell while both generate symmetrical power through a single oar each. The “lightweight” restriction adds another layer of difficulty each athlete must weigh under 59 kg, with an average crew weight of 57 kg.
This balance of strength, endurance, and synchronization is what makes the duo’s success remarkable. In a category often dominated by East Asian teams with established programs, Gurbani and Diljot’s silver medal marks India’s arrival at the continental elite level. Their coach, Angus Seller, an Australian high-performance expert brought in by the IIS, focused on refining their technique and enhancing physiological output. His mantra “build strength and endurance” addressed precisely what Indian rowers had long lacked: the final layer of conditioning that converts finalists into medalists. The results were immediate.
Hai Phong, Vietnam, is not a traditional Asian rowing powerhouse venue. Its inclusion as host signaled a deliberate strategic choice by the RFI: to test emerging athletes in a controlled international setting rather than thrust them prematurely into Olympic qualification waters. This calibrated exposure allowed the crew to race against elite but accessible competition, build rhythm, and translate domestic speed into global competitiveness.
By the end of the event, India’s women’s team had proved they could not only qualify but contend.
Lessons from the Drought: Systemic Failures Exposed
Between 2010 and 2024, Indian women’s rowing languished in an “intermittent excellence model” sporadic peaks of success with no structural continuity. The Odisha-based 2010 crew had shown what was possible with state backing, but the model was never replicated nationally. In the ensuing years, the men’s teams surged ahead, collecting medals at the Asian Championships (2019) and Asian Games (2018, 2023), while the women’s program remained starved of exposure, funding, and safety assurances.
This stagnation was rooted in three primary deficits:
- Financial and infrastructural imbalance: Rowing is an expensive, equipment-heavy sport. Facilities and boats were concentrated in a few urban centers, excluding much of India’s potential talent pool.
- Institutional safety and gender barriers: Reports of misconduct and unsafe training environments dissuaded many young women from pursuing elite-level rowing. The lack of female coaches and administrators compounded the problem.
- Socio-economic limitations: With limited career pathways post-retirement and poor visibility, many athletes quit early.
These factors formed a feedback loop of underperformance, one that the 2024 silver finally began to break.
The Catalyst: High-Performance Reform and IIS Partnership
The turning point came with the post-2023 high-performance overhaul, when the RFI formally partnered with the Inspire Institute of Sports. This partnership was transformative for three reasons:
- Precision Talent Identification: From 20 female rowers, a 14-member core group was selected for long-term development, allowing resources to be concentrated on athletes with proven domestic excellence.
- Foreign Coaching Expertise: The appointment of Angus Seller brought world-class technical methodology, integrating advanced strength and endurance programs with video-assisted biomechanical analysis.
- International Exposure: Training stints in Australia exposed athletes to the pace, rhythm, and discipline of the world’s top crews, essential for bridging the competitive gap.
Within a year of this structured approach, India had its first women’s continental medal in over a decade clear evidence that strategic investment and scientific support can yield rapid, measurable gains.
The Road Ahead: Transitioning Toward the Olympics
While the 2024 silver marks a landmark, the challenge now lies in strategic continuity. The Lightweight category (LW2x) is being phased out after the Paris 2024 Olympics, meaning India must quickly adapt to the evolving Olympic program.
Two clear priorities emerge:
- Transitioning to Openweight Events (W2-, W4-): Gurbani and Diljot, with their sweep rowing base, are ideal candidates to step up to the openweight Coxless Pair or Four. A medically supervised mass-gain and strength-conditioning program will be crucial to help them meet the higher physiological demands of these Olympic events.
- Exploring Coastal Rowing: With Coastal Rowing set to debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, India has an early-mover advantage. The discipline relies more on technique, adaptability, and endurance than raw power attributes where Indian athletes could excel if investments are made now.
At a structural level, RFI must also institutionalize gender-safe governance and ensure long-term funding for the women’s core group till 2028. Equally, providing career transition support inspired by Odisha’s 2010 precedent of employing medalists in state services can help retain talent through Olympic cycles.
Beyond the Medal: A New Institutional Ethos
The story of Gurbani and Diljot is not just about podium finishes it’s about proving that systemic reform, when executed scientifically, can transform outcomes. The medal symbolizes a wider awakening: a shift from celebrating anomalies to building sustained excellence. For too long, women’s rowing in India existed in the shadows of its male counterpart. Now, with the first tangible success of the new high-performance system, the tide appears to be turning.
The silver from Hai Phong is more than a medal. It’s a message that when opportunity, safety, and science align, Indian women can, and will, row alongside the best in Asia. The challenge now is to ensure this momentum becomes the foundation of an enduring legacy one that carries Indian women’s rowing not just to the podiums of Asia, but onto the waters of the Olympic Games.
