The first woman canoeist to join the Indian Army has blazed a trail, bagging the country’s first gold medal at an international event in the high-intensity paddling sport.Havildar Megha Pradeep clinched two golds in the C1 200-meters and C1 500-meters category, and a silver in the C2 500-meters category at 2026 Canoe Sprint Asian Games Test Event in Miyoshi City, the Army said on Monday.The event is a key qualifier for the 2026 Asian Games that are scheduled to be held in Japan, in which 45 countries are expected to participate.In 2025, Oinam Binita Chanu from Odisha had won gold in kayaking at Canoe Sprint International President Cup in Uttarakhand, in which 21 countries had participated. Another woman kayaker, Prachi Yadav, won a gold in 2023 Asian Para Games for athletes with physical disabilities.Canoeing and kayaking are different in the sense that the design of the boats and the seating positions are different. Canoes are open and use a single-bladed paddle while kayaks are closed-top and use a double-bladed paddle. All these have a bearing on balance, speed and manoeuvrability.Besides Megha, two Army paddlers outshone at the meet, with Naib Subedar Sunil Singh bagging the gold in C1 200-m and C1 500-m, and Subedar Raju Rawat getting the silver in C2 500-m.A C1 event is a high-speed flatwater race where one paddler kneels in a canoe and uses a single-bladed paddle to propel the boat, whereas a C2 event involves two paddlers in an open canoe, requiring synchronised power.Canoe sprint is an extremely intense discipline requiring elite cardiovascular endurance, explosive power and exceptional balance as the athletes have to kneel in a narrow, unstable boat and paddle on only one side.The athletes had trained at the Army Kayaking and Canoeing Node, which is managed by Bengal Engineer Group and Centre at Roorkee in Uttarakhand.Megha became the first female athlete recruited into the Army Kayak and Canoe Node, marking a historic step for women in Indian water sports as part of the Army’s drive to enrol promising women sportspersons after entry into the rank and file was opened for females in 2022 under the Agnipath scheme.Her defining breakthrough came at the 2024 Asian Canoe Sprint Championships in Tokyo, where she won a bronze medal in the women’s C1 500-m event, opening India’s medal tally and establishing herself among Asia’s elite canoeists.While Megha has won gold medals at national events, the 21-year old’s international rise began with a silver medal at 2023 Junior Asian Canoe Sprint Championships and a bronze in the women’s C1 500-m at the 2024 Asian Canoe Sprint Championships in Tokyo.At 2025 U23 World Championships in Portugal, she became the first Indian woman to reach the C1 500-m finals. Though she finished 17th, it was a historic milestone for Indian canoeing on the global stage.Several women sportspersons recruited into the Army have also performed well in other disciplines, bagging gold in international events like boxing.