Dattu Baban Bhokanal
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Biography
Tushar Dutt & Abhilash Botekar, July 29, 2016: The Times of India
PUNE/NASHIK: At 5 every morning, Dattu Bhokanal sets out for the Miami Beach Rowing Club. His next four hours are a tale of sweat, grit and uninterrupted training in the American beach city. An encore follows every evening.
Dattu is the only Indian to qualify in the singles sculls event for the Rio Olympics. Growing up as a youngster in rural western Maharashtra, he had a slightly different schedule. He tilled farmland, grazed cattle and dug wells - not an easy job in the parched Chandwad taluka in the remote village of Talegaon Rohi.He also took care of his ailing father.
"My struggles were born even before me. First it was only financial, but later it were emotional and physical too," remembers the rower.Dattu was just 19 when his father succumbed to bone cancer in 2011. "I didn't get any support from my relatives. I realized that it is my own battle and I will fight it out alone. And I decided to appear for the army entrance test," he says.
Dattu didn't know much about the recruitment process, but he knew one thing well: himself. "I knew that I won't score high in the written exam, so I must perform extraordinarily well in the physical test. And as I had thought, my deficit in the written test was compensated by my physical exam scores. I made it to the Indian Army," says Dattu, now a strapping six feet, four inches tall havildar.
After joining the Bombay Engineering Group and Centre (BEG) in Pune, Dattu was keen on taking up a sport. Rowing attracted him, but he had some inhibitions. "I used to get scared of everything when my father was alive. After his death, I wanted to shed my fears away. I made sure to do the things first that scared me," he says.In spite of not knowing how to swim, Dattu took up rowing to get rid of his fears. The army job joining had taken care of his financial needs but he wanted to do something that will make him proud.The moment came when he booked a berth for the Rio Games. "Qualifying for the Olympics was the happiest moment for me in years. But I couldn't share it with my parents," he rues.
His mother fell down while riding pillion with his brother days before Dattu was to leave for Korea to participate in the Asian qualifiers. "She now fails to recognise anybody and is under treatment," says his grandfather Rambhau. His two younger brothers, Gokul and Yuvraj, take care of the household duties, their mother and grandparents.
But Dattu refuses to be cowed down by life's unkind cuts. "I become strong in difficult times. I don't know what it is termed in psychology, but I remain calm in adversities. I dread the time when there are too many good things happening around me. It gives me a sense of fear," he says.
As in 2018, July
Bhokanal targets gold for late mother August 19, 2018: The Times of India
Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal, the favourite to win single sculls gold at the Asian Games, is back to his best after a traumatising period during which he lost his mother. Indian rowing technical director Nicolai Gioga expects medals in seven events including singles sculls where Bhokanal will be vying for the gold.
His average time has been hovering around the 7-minute mark and two weeks ago while training in Pune he also produced the time he clocked in Rio Olympics -- 6:54.96 seconds. At Incheon Asian Games four years ago, Iran’s Mohsen Shadi won the gold with 7.05.66s.
