Bajranglal Takhar ran out of steam in the closing stages but managed to better his personal best timing to finish 21st in the men's singles sculls rowing event at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Friday.
The Indian led the 19-24 place classification race until the 1500m mark but slowed down in the final 500m, clocking 7:09.73 to finish third in the race and 21st overall.
Thakar, however, had the satisfaction of bettering his personal best time of 7:41.73 which he clocked at the Munich World Championships last year.
Uruguay's Leandro Salvagno came first in Friday's race to finish overall 19th with a timing of 7:04.13, followed by Hong Kong's Hiu Fung Law (7:06.17).
Meanwhile, in the men's lightweight double sculls, Devender Kumar Khandwal and Manjeet Singh came third in the classification race to finish 19th overall.
Khandwal and Manjeet clocked 6:40.34, which also brought down the curtains on India's rowing campaign.
