Conquering the ocean waters! Nethra Kumanan becomes first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics

New Delhi, April 09: To create history and become the first person to do so in the sports industry, is not easy, it takes a lots of hard work, passion, and dedication. And it becomes more difficult for sportsmen when the game is not even recognized in the Indian sports fraternity. But breaking the ice, Chennai-based athlete, Nethra Kumanan becomes the 1st Indian woman sailor to secure a trailblazing qualification for Tokyo Olympics 2020.

 

 

 

 

She creates the history after coming first at the Laser Radial event in the Mussanah Open Championship. It is a joint Asian and African Olympic qualifying event that took place in Oman. She grabbed the first spot with an unassailable lead. The Indian sailor bagged a 21-point lead over the chasing pack and had almost ensured her qualification to the Olympics with the final race to take place on Thursday.

 

Expressing her happiness after qualification and Nethra said, "On the one side it's been a dream-come-true moment for me and, on the other side, it's just one step/race tomorrow (Thursday) to finish."

 

 

 

 

Kumanan will be the 10th Indian to qualify for a sailing event in the Olympics, with all the earlier nine had been male athletes. All the earlier nine had made it to the Olympics by getting nominated for quota places that were not filled up through the qualifiers. She is also the first Indian to have booked a direct quota place by topping a qualifier.

 

 

Nethra Kumanan is an engineering student at the SRM college in Chennai. Kumanan has been the national No. 1 in Laser Radial for the last couple of years. Kumanan has represented the country at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games in Incheon and Jakarta. She became the first Indian woman to win a World Cup medal in sailing when she clinched a bronze medal at the 2020 Sailing World Cup in Miami, USA.

 

 

 

It should be noted that Laser Radial for women has been part of the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games. The Laser Radial is a classification in dinghy sailing, a singlehanded boat sailed by one person. It is a variant of the Laser Standard category for men.

 

 

 

 

Apart from Kumanan, the Indian Army's Subedar Vishnu Saravanan from Madras Engineer Group has also qualified for Tokyo Olympics in the Laser Std Class Sailing event. He has become the 2nd Indian sailor to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

 

Last month, fencer Bhavani Devi had created history by becoming the first fencer from India to qualify for the Olympics.

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