Indian Army Global Rowing Honour: The Army Rowing Node at the College of Military Engineering in Pune has made India proud. This rowing centre recently won the World Rowing “Programme of the Year” 2025 award. It beat strong entries from France and the United Kingdom. The award was given for its hard work in growing and improving the sport of rowing.
The award was handed over on January 24, 2026 at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Commanding Officer of ARN, Col. R Ramakrishnan, received the award. India Rowing president Balaji Maradappa was also present at the ceremony. The World Rowing Award itself was started in 2024 to honour programmes that help rowing grow around the world.
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Special Rowing Facility in Pune
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The Army Rowing Node was set up in 2001 and is very special because it has India’s only man-made rowing channel built to international standards. The channel is 2,200 metres long and 135 metres wide. Around 60 to 90 rowers train here at a time. This is the only place in India that can host international rowing competitions.
ARN works under the Indian Army’s Mission Olympics Wing. This wing was also started in 2001 and its aim is to help India win medals in the Olympics and other big sports events. In the early days, rowing training was done near the Mula–Mutha River. Later, the Army decided to build a permanent and modern rowing centre. Construction began in 2005 and the facility was officially opened in 2009. After that, ARN moved to its current place inside the CME campus in Pune.
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Top Athletes
Over the years, athletes trained at ARN have achieved amazing success. They have won more than 590 medals at national events and 129 medals at international competitions. The centre has produced 15 Arjuna Award winners, 2 Dronacharya Award winners, 1 Padma Shri awardee, 2 Dhyan Chand Award winners and 11 Olympians. At the 2023 Asian Games, the entire Indian rowing team was made up of athletes from the armed forces. The team won five medals at the event, including two silver medals.
Explaining the importance of the award, World Rowing said, “The ‘Rowing Programme of the Year’ award underscores World Rowing’s commitment to expanding the international Rowing community, involving clubs, schools and universities more deeply, and highlighting their crucial role in developing the sport,” World Rowing had stated about the award. The other programmes competing for the award were Rowing for Health from Lyon in France and the Refugee Integration Programme from Lancaster in the United Kingdom.
