Till three years back, Swarn had no idea about rowing

DALEL WALA, MANSA: He had not even slight idea about rowing till three years ago. In only three years he got the details of the highly unrecognizable game for villagers in such a way that today Swarn Singh has reached the quarter final stage in Olympics.
The non-descript and tiny Mansa village Dalel Wala is rejoicing with son of the soil making its mark at London Olympics.Swarn Singh of this dusty village has reached the quarter final stage in rowing after defeating South Korean rival on Sunday in single scull repackage round. All eyes are now focused on Tuesday’ quarter finals match of twenty three years Swarn Singh Virk.
Swarn had no formal training in rowing till 2008, when after joining the Indian Army he was selected to be trained at Pune rowing node. But once in the game, Swarn never looked back and went on to win the national championship in 2011 apart from winning bronze medal in Asian rowing championship, the same year.
“Despite no glamour and no proper recognition in rowing, Swarn decided to excel in the game and today the village is overjoyed when he has proved his worth. We are praying he will win a medal for India and if it happens, that will be a golden day for the highly backward area of Southern Punjab”, said Swarn’ Punjab police constable brother Lakhwinder Singh.
“The mood is upbeat in the village as overjoyed villagers are converging at our place to share the happiness and pray for further victories”, said Swarn’ father Gurmukh Singh with broader smiles on his face. Gurmukh, who is an agriculturalist said Swarn, 6’1” got to know about rowing only in 2009 after he was selected for the game in 3 Sikh Regiment and it is because of sheer hard work that he has reached the Olympics, a near dream for us villagers.