ACHIVEMENTS

Asian Games - 2010
 

Subedar Bajrang Lal Takhar

  

Subedar Bajrang Lal Takhar led the charge with a historic gold in men's singles scull as Indian rowers notched up three more medals to put India's floundering campaign at the Asian Games back on track on Friday.

Starting in lane 3, the 29-year-old Bajrang Lal led the 2000m race from start to finish and rowed his way to the gold with a few lengths of boats to spare in 7 minutes and 4.78 seconds.

Rajasthan-born Bajrang Lal, who won the Asian championship gold last year in Korea and was the pre-event favourite, was followed across the finish line by Chinese Taipei's Wang Ming Hui (7:07.33), who took the silver, and Iraq's Haeider Hamarasheid (7:10.10), who won the bronze.

Four years ago, Bajrang Lal had become the first Indian to win a silver medal at the Asian Games.

The rowing event came to a finale with the Indian men's eight team clinching the silver, by clocking 5:49.50, way behind hosts China who timed 5:37.44, but well ahead of bronze medal winners Uzbekistan (5:55.96).

Subedar Bajrang Lal was the most favoured finalist for the single sculls gold and won the race from a fast-finishing Wang Ming Hui of Taipei.

Subedar Vijay Kumar, SM

Shooting fetched yet another medal for India as Subedar Vijay Kumar, SM won the bronze in the 10m air pistol individual event of the Asian Games.

Vijay just about made the cut for the finals by finishing eighth in the qualification round but shot the highest score of 101.4 in the medal round for a total of 680.4 to take India's medal tally to three.

Subedar Tarundeep Rai, VSM

Subedar Tarundeep Rai, VSM a 26-year-old Army man made history here, winning Indian archery’s first-ever individual medal at the continental games.

Rai could have won gold. The final was a lot closer than the 7-3 score line suggests. Rai’s first shot of the fifth set was an 8 and although he came back with a 10 and a 9 with his next two arrows, it wasn’t enough.

Rai, who has had a great comeback this year where he won the SAF Games gold, a gold in the Commonwealth Games test event and then ousted Mangal Singh Champia from the Commonwealth Games team, had faltered at the Commonwealth Games last month. The Archery Association of India thus reinstated Champia for the team championships here. Wednesday’s performance did prove a point.
 

CWG-2010
 

 

First Base Jump in the Nation
 

Lt Col Satyendra Verma, an experienced Skydiver from the Corps of Signals and also the team Captain of Army Adventure Skydiving team, carried out the first B.A.S.E. Jump in the country from Pitampura TV Tower, New Delhi from a height of 158 meters at 0625 hrs on 29 October 2010.

B.A.S.E. Jump is one of the activities being promoted by Army. It is another form of Freefall, where an experienced Skydiver jumps from a fixed object (Building, Antenna, Span (Bridges) or Earth Cliff) instead of a flying machine. It involves use of a specialized parachute which is particularly manufactured to ensure faster and more reliable openings.

Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali, Sena Medal, the Director General of Military Training, under whose aegis this activity was executed, stated that presently, the Army is imparting training in more than 17 various fields of adventure, including Mountaineering, Sport Climbing, White Water Rafting, Paragliding, Para motoring, Skydiving and Land Yachting”.

The General further stated that Lt Col Satyendra Verma’s feat today is part of 25 glorious years of Army Adventure Wing. It will send a message to the youth of the nation to undertake such challenging activities and encourage them to join Army.

In the near future as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Army Adventure, more such activities are being undertaken like Skiing to South Pole covering a distance of 1170 kms, an expedition to the sixth highest mountain of the world Mount Manaslu and a Microlight flying expedition to the length and breadth of the country.