The benefits of microfiber suede grips for rowers with ‘mazdoor ka hath’ | Sports News
4 min readMumbaiSep 15, 2026 10:19 AM IST
The 27th to 29th North latitudes of India, with towns on the 28th degree specifically from Mansa in Punjab to Sikar and Churu in Rajasthan, to Roorkee in Uttarakhand to Bulandshahr and Bareilly in UP, produce most of the country’s top medalling men’s rowers at Asian Games.
It’s historically observed, and a bit of a snazzy coincidence too. But not so much when you realise they get scouted out in army/lately navy recruitments from that wonder-belt for their strong frames that later churn out rowing champions. It’s also a farming belt. Though, ask any top name, and they will boast of their first calluses, dried out from near-bleeding blisters on hands, when sitting in a boat, wielding the oars.
Rowing’s repetitive friction when settling onto the right rhythm for the stroke, clutching those durable, easy-to-clean green rubber grips at the end of the shaft handle, invariably led to bleeding, especially when training on water for 2-3 hours. Champions of yore from Bajrang Lal Takhar to Arvind-Arjun last Asiad at Hangzhou, would all have their own tales of the crusty skin that could take up to three years to soften back. They wore them like battle scars — even as some of the quietest, no-fuss medals, even gold, increased India’s tally but were gently forgotten as the sport is far from glamorous.
‘Mazdoor ka hath’
“It’s like a farmer’s hand. Ya mazdoor ka hath,” coach and equipment geek at the Army Rowing Node, Subedar Tejas Shirke, explains. It wasn’t that it hurt terribly that was the problem, he says. “The efficiency of the stroke would go down due to blisters,” he says.
Around 2018-19, Vermont-based American oar-makers, Concept2 got researching on adjustable composite grips, and arrived at microfiber suede grips which had a softer texture to replace the rubber-caused aggravations. “The blisters don’t entirely go away. We are rowers after all. But it was the biggest tech change that helped improve efficiency and timings. You could call it skin-friendly,” Shinde says.
Oars are notoriously wand-like. And coaches who go about making adjustments in length, angle of the blade, and tiny hexagonal screws as small as 13 mm in diameter, do it with the wild whacked intuition of Diagon Alley’s wandmaker Olivander. This happens two days before the race, though the tool box and India’s iconic white & blue Fillipi boats, have already reached Nagoya.
Coaches travel with string pendulums dipped into competition waters to measure thickness, gravity, pH and density of the liquid. If water is heavier, a bigger angle is imparted to the blade; for lighter, it’s less, in the 0° to 4° range. Oars essentially work as levers and adjustments for length of the shaft and where the lock should clasp (inboard and outboard), can depend on variables like weather, water density, strength of the rower, what training phase he is in and a coach’s instinct. They decide stiffness of the shaft, even as Indians adopted the latest upgrade on the hatchet shaped blade called ‘Plain Edge’ — smoother, curved top edge and wider tip leading to a softer catch (how much water is moved).
Story continues below this ad
Carved from across a factory floor overlooking Napolean’s Elba retreat in Livorno in Italy, the Fillipi boats are on the higher-cost range of around Rs 19 lakh. Fillipi R&D however is top-grade, and has always delivered Asiad medals for India. The oars, connected with rowlocks to the boats though, come from picturesque Vermont, where the basswood is used as much for old-fashioned rowing handles as handmade acoustic and electric guitars.
Oar technology though has moved on from wood (though Australians still swear by it), to the new carbon fibre ‘Ultralight’ oars that offer greater elasticity.
India’s elite rowers who will contend for gold in men’s Lightweight Doubles Sculls and Quadruple Sculls, have a huddle warcry – “India, Row for Gold.” Nothing less will do after China picked gold last time in double sculls. Given the exhausting nature of the sport, rowers this time, have been working with elite psychologists teaching them to stay calm through the strength crunching stroke. The calluses on hands might not reduce efficiency this time around, tech has ensured.
