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India had sent its largest contingent ever to <keyword id="1151997" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rio-Olympics">Rio Olympics</keyword> and the country won two medals-one silver, one bronze-at the sporting extravaganza. 
 As wrestler <keyword id="6356003" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sakshi-Malik">Sakshi Malik</keyword> and shuttler <keyword id="501707" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PV-Sindhu">PV Sindhu</keyword> won bronze and silver medals, respectively, other sportspersons such as gymnast <keyword id="406835" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dipa-Karmakar">Dipa Karmakar</keyword>, marathon runner OP Jaisha, woman golfer <keyword id="546814" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aditi-Ashok">Aditi Ashok</keyword>, rower <keyword id="3336582" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dattu-Bhokanal">Dattu Bhokanal</keyword>, etc won hearts. 
 
Our sportspersons did perform well at the Rio Olympics considering the treatment and infrastructure given to the athletes in India. 
 
If our sportspersons can achieve this feat and represent India in Olympics with minimal push given to sports in India, imagine the medals we would bag if other games are taken seriously in the cricket-frenzy nation. 
 
The infrastructure is lacklustre due to the apathy of the officials and this time the world saw it too at the Rio Olympics. 
 
Our officials who went along with the sportspersons acted as villains who did not even think twice about the athletes and had a gala time of their own. 
 
Here are the super villains from India who went to Rio Olympics and brought nothing to the country, but shame. They should learn something about sportsmanship from our athletes. 
 
Take a look

The super villains that accompanied India’s Olympians to party and click selfies in Rio

For Dattu Baban Bhokanal, the lone Indian rower to qualify for 2016 <keyword id="1151997" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rio-Olympics">Rio Olympics</keyword>, overcoming his fear of water emerged as the best thing ever for him. 
 
The 24-year-old’s story is nothing less than inspiring and exudes the best example of grit and determination. 
 
Indian rower Bhokanal qualified for Rio Olympics in the men’s singles sculls category as he finished second in the Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta in South Korea. 
 
Bhokanal, who comes from a tiny village in Maharashtra Talegaon where water is considered equivalent to gold, never thought he would end up rowing as he was scared of water. 
 
“I never thought water could be used for sports as well. In our village, water is very scarce. I used to think if I jump into the water, I will drown. There was a huge phobia regarding water,” said Bhokanal. 
 
Early life 
 
Coming from a drought-hit village and achieving such heights, Bhokanal’s story is inspiring. 
 
He is the eldest to his two brothers and usually used to spend his early days in agricultural field with his father. 
 
“I used to go to school and then mostly spend my days in the fields, do farming with my father, ride tractor, bike. I was never interested in studies and always wanted to do business,” said Bhokanal. 
 
But his destiny took a sharp turn when his father died. He had to look after his family and it is then he decided to join the army. 
 
“I moved to Pune to join the army and earn for my family. Here I was introduced to rowing,” said Bhokanal. 
 
Army life 
 
“I had never seen so much water in my life. My coach at the army was adamant that I take up rowing. I had water phobia but I had to do it. So, I just hit the boat. It did topple a number of times but my fear of drowning went away,” said 6 feet 4 inch tall Bhokanal. 
 
Bhokanal’s coach Ismail Baig, Dronacharya and chief national rowing coach, worked on him and the results are evident. 
 
 Qualifying for Olympics 
 
Bhokanal clocked 7 minutes 07.49 second in the two kilometre course. However, he could not celebrate his sweet success with his mother, who was then in coma. 
 
“When I qualified for Olympics, my mother was in hospital and could not recognise any one. But now she’s fine and doing better,” said Bhokanal. 
 
The Indian rower will be soon going to the US for his training and will be coached by Paul Mokha. 
 
 “To get a medal in Olympics, I have to clock around 6 minutes 36 seconds and I am working hard towards it,” said Bhokanal. 
 
 Speaking about pressure, Bhokanal said he is just focussing on his timing and practice sessions. 
 
 “There is little bit of pressure but I am just focussed on rowing only. I know there are lot of expectations from me as I am representing India but my mind is free and I just have to perform well,” said Bhokanal, whose never give up attitude has brought him to this level. 
 
(Image: Twitter)

Meet Dattu Bhokanal, the lone Indian rower to qualify for Rio Olympics, who was once scared of water

Table tennis star Manika Batra and cricketer Deepti Sharma were among those who were presented the <keyword id="127507" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Sports-Awards">National Sports Awards</keyword> by President <keyword id="6354561" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ram-nath-kovind">Ram Nath Kovind</keyword> on Saturday. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Batra, alongwith Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal and 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu were presented the <keyword id="9847721" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajiv-Gandhi-Khel-Ratna-Award-">Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.</keyword> Deepti meanwhile was conferred the Arjuna, as were Atanu Das (archery), Chirag Shetty (badminton), Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (basketball), Manish Kaushik and Lovlina Bograhain (boxing), Sawant Ajay Anant (Equestrian), Sandesh Jhingan (football), Akashdeep Singh(hockey), Deepak (kabaddi), Kale Sarika Sudhakar (kho kho), Dattu Baban Bhokanal (rowing), Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker (Shooting), Madhurika Suhas Patkar (table tennis), Divya Kakran and Rahul Aware (wrestling), Shiva Keshavan (luge), Suyash Narayan Jadhav (para swimming), Sandeep (para athletics) and Manish Narwal (para shooting). Shooting coach Jaspal Rana, who is credited with overseeing the careers of the likes of Saurabh and Manu and thus playing a major role in India's recent dominance in the sport, is among nine coaches who have been conferred the Dronacharya Award in the regular category. Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb), Jude Felix Sebastian (Hockey), Kuldeep Kumar Handoo (Wushu), and Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton) were also conferred the Dronacharya. Meanwhile Dharmendra Tiwary (archery), Purushotham Rai (athletics), Shiv Singh (boxing), Romesh Pathania (hockey), Krishan Kumar Hooda (kabaddi) and Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar (para powerlifting) received the Dronacharya Lifetime award. Kuldip Singh Bhullar (athletics), Jincy Philips (athletics), Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe (badminton), Trupti Murgunde (badminton), N Usha (boxing), Ajit Singh (hockey), Manpreet Singh (kabaddi), J Ranjith Kumar (para athletics), Satyaprakash Tiwari (para badminton), Manjeet Singh (rowing), Late Sachin Nag (swimming), Nandan P Bal (tennis) and Netarpal Hooda (wrestling) were conferred the Dhyan Chand Award. The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards were conferred to Anita Devi (Land Adventure), Col Sarfraz Singh (Land Adventure), Taka Tamut (Land Adventure), Keval Hiren Kakka (Land Adventure), Satendra Singh (Water Adventure) and Late Magan Bissa (Life Time Achievement). Panjab University won the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy. Pune's Army Sport Institute, Lakshya Institute, Delhi's ONGC, Air Force Sports Control Board, and International Institute of Sports Management (IISM) in Mumbai were conferred the Rahstriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

National Sports Awards presented by President Ram Nath Kovind to India’s top sportspersons

<keyword id="6702825" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rio-Olympics-2016">Rio Olympics 2016</keyword> is underway and yes India has not opened its medal tally as yet, but fret not, because that could be changing soon. 
 
Some of our sportspersons lost the chance to get the medal by a whisker as shooter Abhinav Bindra, rower Dattu Bhokanal and judoka Avtar Singh finished fourth, missing the third spot by a point or two. 
 
Indian weight-lifter Sathish Sivalingam was also out of the medal bracket and India’s hope for medals from Jitu Rai, Gagan Narang and Heena Sidhu also ended. 
 
Indian swimmers Sajan Prakash, Shivani Kataria were also knocked out of the competition and even archer laxmirani Majhi crashed out of women’s individual archery event. 
 But, there is still hope for India, which has sent its largest contingent ever, as boxers <keyword id="23353" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="manoj-kumar">Manoj Kumar</keyword>, Vikas Krishnan and gymnast Dipa Karmakar are still in the foray. 
 Our badminton stars Jwala Gutta, <keyword id="30618" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Saina-Nehwal">Saina Nehwal</keyword> and wrestlers <keyword id="157783" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yogeshwar-Dutt">Yogeshwar Dutt</keyword> and Narsingh Yadav are still to compete and there are bright chances for India to win a medal there. 
 
The biggest thing is to compete at Olympics as with given infrastructure in India, achieving this level of feat in sporting era in itself is commendable and we all should be proud of our sportpersons who are taking the pressure, sweating it out and doing everything they can for India. 
 
Here are the hopefuls that will open the scorecard for India on medal tally. Fingers crossed! 
 
(Image credits: Indiatimes/Reuters)

You Searched For "Dattu Bhokanal" and got 4 results

The super villains that accompanied India’s Olympians to party and click selfies in Rio

Akanksha Jain

Meet Dattu Bhokanal, the lone Indian rower to qualify for Rio Olympics, who was once scared of water

Akanksha Jain

National Sports Awards presented by President Ram Nath Kovind to India’s top sportspersons

IANS

India still stands many chances to win medals at Rio Olympics 2016. These are the hopefuls

Akanksha Jain

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