Conquering his own demons

It’s hard to believe that a multiple national title winning rower G Tarun Krishna Prasasd’s biggest fear was water. Falling off the boat, particularly, was a terrifying thought. In fact, he had no interest in the sport and taking it up as a career seemed a distant dream.

Fast-forward to 2020 and you meet a confident and fearless 19-year-old from Bengaluru, who has won gold at the 35th Senior National Rowing championships and 19th Open National Rowing Championships in 2017 besides claiming similar accolades at the Junior and Sub-junior levels.

He has represented India in three international competitions. Most recently at the Junior Asian Championship in Pattaya, Malaysia in December last year where he bagged a silver in the Coxless Four event.

The change didn’t happen overnight. It took a while for the Bengalurean to overcome his fright. But with family and coaches throwing their support behind, Tarun battled and defeated his demons.

“They (parents) pushed me into swimming,” recalled Tarun. “I learnt it for two months and then I took up rowing. I actually never thought I could make it so far. I just got on to the boat for fun and I was scared of falling and later after three months of training, my interest in the sport grew in the sport and I lost the fear of water.”

It wasn’t the only battle he fought. When he was four, he was diagnosed with knock knees. It’s a condition in which the knees move inward and touch each other when the legs are straightened.

“He was a very young. It took him 2-3 years to come out of it perfectly. He suffered a lot. We used to keep sweets 10 feet away, asking him to come and take it. For that 10 feet, he used to take about an hour to reach, he would cry. He basically reframed his legs,” said Tarun’s father G Srinivasa Rao.

Turning point

One fine day in 2012, on a visit to Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Tarun was noticed by Shamanna, an administrator, who advised him to take up rowing after seeing his height and even spoke to his father about it.

“I started in the year of 2012 because of Shamanna sir. My sister was into high jumping and I would go with her and my father to the Kanteerava Stadium daily when I was 10-11 years old. I had a good height, I was 5’7’’ or 5’8’’. Shamanna sir saw me and told me to try out rowing,” said Tarun, a student of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research.

Tarun wasn’t too keen initially but his father loved the idea and urged him to give the sport a shot.

In 2012, Tarun joined Trishna Yacht Club and trained at the Ulsoor lake. In June, he made his debut for the state at the 15th Sub-junior Nationals in Kodaikanal, without much success. But he persisted, and a year later in the 16th edition of the event in Bengaluru, he bagged a silver.

“The competition is more intense in Nationals. Basically, you have to go through a different training. You have to go step by step, from technique to endurance to stamina,” Tarun said.

It took him two more years to conquer the Sub-junior category as he won the gold at the 18th edition in Bengaluru and repeated the feat at the 19th in Chennai. But it was just a start for the young rower, who was beginning to realise his potential.

In 2015 at an Indian camp in Hyderabad, he met coach Ismail Baig, a Dronyacharya awardee, who took him under his wings. His progress was evident from thereon. He participated at the international level for the first time in 2016 at the Junior Asian Rowing championship in October. Although he returned home without a medal, it was a great learning curve.

That experience bore fruit soon enough as the year 2017 turned out to be brilliant. Tarun claimed three back-to-back gold in the 35th Senior, 19th Open and 38th Junior championships. Around the same time, he also included sports nutritionist Geetha Ghaliyaar in his team to help him with his diet.

Last year, Tarun participated in two international tournaments. He travelled to Tokyo in October for the Junior World Rowing Championship from where he returned empty handed. But in December, he won the biggest award of his career, when he returned home from Pattaya with a silver after going down to Uzbekistan at the Junior Asian rowing championships.

“Uzbekistanis were tough competitors but we didn’t lose with a big margin, we were behind by just 2-3 seconds,” said Tarun.

The Bengalurean doesn’t believe in setting lofty targets, he is grounded and focused on the job at hand. For now, Olympics is not his priority. He wants to conquer Asia first.

“I need to get more medals. I want to (participate in Olympics) but then I can’t just imagine huge things and put myself down,” he said.

“My next target is Asian Games 2022. It’s a step by step process.”