Indian sailors write history, four qualify for Tokyo Olympics

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For the first time in history, four Indians sailors will be representing India at a sailing event in the Olympics. On Wednesday, India’s Nethra Kumanan became the first Indian woman sailor ever to qualify for the Olympics. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Vishnu Saravanan and the pair of Ganapathy Chengappa and Varun Thakkar qualified in their respective events making it a historical achievement for the country.

With this, India will also for the first time compete in three different sailing events at an Olympics. Before this, India has competed in only one event in all the earlier editions of the Olympics, although two sailors represented the country on four occasions.

Who qualified in which sailing event?
Chennai born Nethra Kumanan will compete in the laser radial event. She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after finishing second behind Emma Charlotte Jeanne Savelon from the Netherlands in the qualifying event at the Mussanah Open Championship.

On the other hand, Vishnu Saravanan who competes in the laser standard class stood second in the overall standings with 53 points and earned himself a quota place.

The pair of Ganapathy and Thakkar will represent India in the 49er category. They finished on top of the points table at the Asian Olympics qualifier in Oman.

India at Olympics in Sailing
Prior to this, in 1984, 1988, 1992, and 2004, India qualified for only one sailing event.

In the 1988 Games, the pair of Tarapore and Kelly Rao took part in the same event. Then, in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Tarapore and Cyrus Cama took part in the same 470 class. Meanwhile, at the Athens Olympics in 2004, Malav Shroff and Sumeet Patel competed in 49er class skiff event.

Mussanah Open Championship
Mussanah Open Championships is an Asia and Africa olympic qualifier event for men and women in Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX and RS:X events.

While the laser class is a single sailor event, 49er is a two-member team event. Tokyo is hosting the summer Olympics 2020 from July 23 to August 8, 2021. It got delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.