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Kasam Khan
Maj Kasam Khan (born on 1st January 1974) was an International Rowe r and Soldier of Indian Army as well. Currently he is the Physical Training Officer in Indian Army, posted in 3 EME Centre, Bhopal. He is the first Olympian to quality for Olympics from India in the sports of Rowing. He started rowing in the year 1993 after joining Indian Army.

Kasam has won many International as well as National Level Medals in his 9 years sports carrier. He represented Indian in 2000 Sydney Olympics in Men's Coxless Pair Event with Sub Indrepal Singh. He is having 13 International and 9 National Medals including Bronze Medal in 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, Silver and a Bronze Medal in 1999 Asian Rowing Championship. He is holding the National Record in Indoor Machine Rowing of 6:20.45 which was made in the year 2001 and is yet a National Record. He represented India in 2002 Asian Games held in Busan, South Korea and secured fourth position for the country. He also won Arjuna Award in 2001. He officially retired as a player in 2002 after the Busan Asian Games. After the retirement he became the coach of the Rowing Team of CME, Pune and was very successful in this job also. He was the Coach of Services team in 2007 National Rowing Championship in which his team won Gold in all the rowing events. In the same National Games he won the best Coach Award also. He was about to retire in the year 2011 but cleared SSB Interview in Services Selection Board (SSB) Centre East, Allahabad and got commissioned as an Army Officer. He became the only Army person to get all the Indian Army Ranks till now. After serving for some years as a Record Officer, he got transferred to Physical Training Officer in February 2016.

Early Life and Background
Kasam was born in Chidwai, a small village of Alwar Rajasthan and he is identified as Muslim. Kasam grew in a poor farmer family with lots of struggles and problems in childhood. He was very responsible from his childhood only. He always wanted to do something for his family. Kasam has 2 younger brothers and 4 younger sisters.

Kasam studied in the village government school. He was extremely excelled in Athletics. Later he cleared the recruitment rally and joined army as a recruit and joined the sports of Rowing. Based on his performance in the sport he was sent to Army Rowing Node for better practice and enhancement of his skills in the game. After a lot of hardwork and practice he reach the height and became the first Indian to qualify for Olympics in the Sport of Rowing.

Bombay Engineering Group and Center
At the time of recruitment training, Kasam was selected for the Rowing team of BEG and Center Pune by then Rwoing Coach Nb Sub Gurtej Singh. After a rigorous training he participated in several competitions such as Inter-center Rowing Championship, Maharashtra State Rowing Championship and Amateur Rowing Association of the East(A.R.A.E) Regattas in which he won 2 Golds, 4 Golds and 3 Golds respectively.

Corps of Engineering Rowing Association
After such a great performance within a short period of time, Kasam got selected for the team of CERA(also known as Army Rowing Node) which is considered to be the best rowing team of Indian Army. His start at Army Rowing Node was full of struggle as he was the junior most player there therefore he was not given practice by the Coaches at Node. After a lot of request he was given the outdated Oars and Boat for practice. He participated in Men's Pairs event and during the selection trials of Services he secured 3rd position and got selected to participate in the Nationals from the team of Maharashtra. In sixteenth National Rowing Championship he managed to secure 2nd position and won Silver Medal. This was the turning point for Kasam. After this he continuously participated in 17th National Rowing Championship and 4th National Games and won Gold Medals in his events. Looking at his excellent performance he was promoted to the rank of Havildar and was selected for the Indian Rowing Team in June 1997.

Indian Rowing Team
With his great performance and hard work he rose continuously in his career and started practicing more. He got Opportunities and knew how to use these opportunities. Meanwhile Kasam was ready for his first International game which was 7th Asian Rowing Championship held in Taipei, China in which he won Bronze Medal. He was already the best rower of India till that point of time. He was given proper training for the Asian Games as a Medal was expected from him by the whole nation. He managed to win the Bronze Medal in the 13th Asian Games held at Bangkok. After this he participated in many International and National games and won medals for the country. He was also awarded the Maharana Pratap Award by Rajsthan state on 26th January 2000 and Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card on 15th August 2000.

Sydney Olympics 2000
India qualified for participating in Summer Olympics 2000 which were to be held in Sydney, Australia. India was selected to participate only in Men's Pairs event. Therefore the best 8 Indian players were selected to be trained at the camp to be held in USA. Kasam was one of them. During the Camp the players were swapped and given chance to pair with each other so that the best pair could be made and trails could be taken accordingly. Kasam was struggling for a partner and at the end was paired with Sub Inderpal Singh. Both of them were together for the first time in the boat. Inderpal was heavy weighted and Kasam was light weighted which was also acting as a hindrance in their combination and timings. Slowland Steadily with proper understanding they managed to cooperate. Before the Olympic trials they participated in 29th USA Inter Club Championship in which they won Gold Medal. This boosted their confidence and they gave the trails with full enthusiasm, as a result they won the trail and finalized their place in participation in Olympics and represent India.

They participated in Sydney Olympics with the best of their efforts but the luck was not in their favour and they lost in the repechage.

Making of National Record
After the Olympics Kasam continued his practice for the further games. During a Machine Rowing Championship in Hyderabad Kasam gave the timing of 6:20.06 which was the best timing by any rower in lightweight of the country and which became the National Record in 2001 which is till date a National Record since last 17 years. After this achievement he participated in 2nd Asian Machine Rowing Championship in which he won 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze Medal.

Quitting Rowing
He won Arjuna Award in August 2002 for his excellent performance and International Achievements in the Sports by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

After loosing the Bronze Medal with just a fraction of milliseconds and because of mistake of his fellow partner in 14th Asian Games held in Bhusan Korea, Kasam decided to quit his career as a Rower in 2002. After Asian Games he participated in 7th National Games which were held in Hyderabad in which he won 2 Golds which was the last game of his sports career.

Completion of Studies
Kasam decided to complete his studies which he left at the time of joining Indian Army. He gave the exams of his 12th Standard as a Boarder from the same School in which he used to study in 2004. After 12th he completed his graduation from New Arts College Alwar in 2007. This all was for his next aim which he wanted to achieve.

Career as a Coach
Kasam was appointed as the Coach of BEG and Center Rowing team looking at his past performance as a player. He came up as a successful guide for his players. He made the center team won many Medals during his stay at BEG Center. He also did coaching courses NSNISS and NSSC conducted by sports authority of India in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Later he was appointed as the Chief Coach of Army Rowing Node in 2007. He went as a Coach during the 2007 National Rowing Championship with the team of Services and was awarded the best coach honor which Services won after the gap of 2007. He continued serving as the coach of Army Rowing Node till 2011.

Journey to an Army Officer
After completion of graduation, Kasam was focusing on clearing the Service Selection Board Interview. He gave SSB for Permanent Commission Special List PC(SL) in 2009 at Selection Center Allahabad but was not able to clear the Screening round. After this Kasam worked hard, worked on his English, took proper coaching and finally got recommended for PC(SL) in his second attempt which he gave at Bangalore in December 2010. He was directed to complete his communication skill classes as per the directions of Army HQ which he completed in A.E.C Center Panchmarhi. After successful completion of his training, Kasam got Commissioned on 29th August 2011 from Indian Military Academy Dehradun.

Currently Kasam is serving as a successful and honest Physical Training Officer at 3 E.M.E Center Bhopal.

National Achievements
Awards and Honors