Both of them lost their left foot to a landmine during counter-insurgency operations in Nowshera, Jammu. It meant they had to change their respective sports. Narayana K was a canoeist while Kuldeep Singh used to play volleyball before the injuries were sustained.
Both switched to rowing on the advice of Colonel Gaurav Dutta, chairman of the Para-Rowing Commission, Rowing Federation of India (RFI). Since the switch, the army duo has never looked back.
They started with a bronze at the PR3 M2- (men’s coxless pair) at the World Rowing Cup 2 in Poznan, Poland in 2019. They followed it up with another bronze at the Asian Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea in the same year in PR3 Mixed4+ with Jyoti and Kritika.
Narayana and Kuldeep returned to Poznan to compete in the 2022 edition of the World Cup and they made sure that they finished on the podium. The duo finished third behind rowers from France and Ukraine in PR3 M2- with the timing of 7:33.35.
Besides, the Indian Men’s Eight (M8+) and Women’s Eight (W8+) also entered Finals A and finished fifth in their respective races.
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