Despite not being able to win a medal yet, India’s underdogs have shone brightly on the first four days of the Rio Olympics. The most unlikely of those stories has been the quarter-final qualification of rower Dattu Bhokanal, who had barely any international events under his belt leading up to the Games.
However, all is not well in the Bhokanal household. The 25-year-old’s mother Bhavana Bhokanal’s health situation seems to be getting worse back in Pune. She suffered an accident a couple of days prior to Dattu securing qualification for Rio in South Korea, and according to his brother, her condition has worsened now. The Bhokanal household might be forced to sell their house and village land to pay for the treatment.
Sources close to Dattu told Sportskeeda, “Hanji, yeh zaroor ho sakta hai (Yes, this is a strong possibility). My mother’s treatment was being done by the Army all these days, but now the Army doctor told us that they don’t have the adequate equipment to take care of her in the cantonment, and that she needs to be shifted to a private hospital. You have spoken to me before and you know that is not a possibility for us. So we might have to sell our land in Talegaon, but I don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on bhai, let him come back.”
Dattu surprised the rowing fraternity in his first heat as he finished only 20 seconds behind the world's top 10 rowers such as Angel Rodriguez of Cuba (7:06.89 seconds). His third placed finish also saw him secure a quarter-final berth – uncharted territory for an Indian rower.
His coach Paul Mokha said, “Dattu is that kind of character who will never be affected by anything if sets his goal. He is quiet, doesn’t talk much because he is probably thinking about how he can become a better rower. He has been in touch with his parents back home, but he never brought it up once in training. He was very focussed on his training. He isn’t a social person so he isn’t even telling anyone about this problem. I’m certain if others from India know about this they will help him out.”
Paul added, “Our major goal was qualification to the next round, which we successfully managed. Everyone here is hopeful that his mother does get well soon. But it’s amazing how he has managed to keep all this aside and compete.”
According to sources, the Indian Rowing Federation is not on talking terms with Dattu due to his consistent desire to have his Army coach accompany him instead of their designated coach. So that’s another avenue of funds for his mother’s treatment that's been closed.
Ravi said, “We have spoken to a few people about it, if they can help us then great, otherwise we won’t have a choice. The treatment cost goes up in lakhs, the kind of money we don’t have.”
Dattu finished 15th overall, which is not bad at all for a rower who participates in only one event a year – as compared to his contemporaries who average 7 to 8.
