Indian sailor Nethra Kumanan secured her first Asian Games medal, a bronze, in her fourth attempt at the Aichi-Nagoya Games. She dedicated the win to her parents. Fellow sailor Vishnu Saravanan, who finished fourth, is now focused on the LA Olympics.
Nethra Kumanan on Maiden Asian Games Medal
Nethra, 29, won bronze in the women’s dinghy event at the Asian Games 2026, improving on her fourth-place finish at Hangzhou. She had previously finished seventh at Incheon 2014, fifth at Jakarta 2018 and fourth at Hangzhou, before finally reaching the podium in Aichi-Nagoya.
“I would like to dedicate this medal to my parents and everybody who stood by me and believed in me from the beginning. It’s been a long, long journey, and this is my fourth Asian Games, so finally I have come home with a medal. It’s just surreal, so I really like to thank everybody. It’s too many people to name,” Nethra told ANI upon her arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday.
Nethra finished with 14 points in the final series at the Kaiyoh Yacht Harbour. She placed sixth in the first final race before winning the second, a result that lifted her to third overall behind Thailand’s Sophia Montgomery and Singapore’s Jania Ang.
Despite securing the bronze, Nethra felt she had the ability to challenge for the gold. “It’s good to be back in India; we had a long month in Japan, and it was a hard, hard regatta. I am a bit disappointed because I was good enough to win gold, but the great thing about sailing is fewer mistakes whoever makes is gonna win, and I made a few too many mistakes, but I am happy to come home with a bronze. I hope next time I can make the country prouder,” she said.
Road to Los Angeles 2028
Nethra, who became the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics when she secured a Tokyo 2020 berth, has also competed at the Paris 2024 Games. She finished 35th in Tokyo and 21st in Paris.
With the Los Angeles Olympics now the next major target, Nethra said she will take a short break before returning to training. “Now it will be qualifying for LA and then doing the best result possible in the LA Olympic Games,” she said. “I think I will take two weeks off at least and then go back into training. We have the first qualifiers in January in Brazil, and the goal will be to try to qualify there if not in the next continentals,” she added.
Nethra’s bronze was India’s third sailing medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, following silver for Manu Francis and Prince Kurisinkal Noble in the men’s skiff and bronze for Harshita Tomar and Shital Verma in the women’s skiff.
Vishnu Saravanan Eyes Olympic Glory
Vishnu Saravanan, meanwhile, finished fourth in the men’s dinghy event with 21 points, narrowly missing out on a second successive Asian Games medal after winning bronze at Hangzhou.
The 27-year-old Naib Subedar in the Indian Army, who has also represented India at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, said the challenging weather and tidal conditions made the competition particularly demanding. “It was a long month. We faced a lot of challenges, especially with the weather conditions. It wasn’t a normal venue there. It was very tidal and lots of overcast, so the wind was not building up. I won’t go very deep into technical stuff, but in general it was just very difficult to race, so anything could happen no matter what the scenarios are,” Vishnu told ANI.
Saravanan was pleased to see Nethra finally win an Asian Games medal after several near misses. “I am very happy for Nethra Kumanan, who got a bronze medal after, I think, 2014 was the first Asian Games. It’s been a long wait for her, so I am very happy for her to get a medal,” he said.
He also hailed Harshita Tomar, who became a two-time Asian Games medallist after winning bronze in the women’s skiff. “I am very happy for Harshita [Tomar], who is like a little sister to me and she is a double Asian Games medallist now,” Vishnu said.
While he missed the podium in Aichi-Nagoya, Saravanan remains focused on the bigger target of an Olympic medal, with the LA Games qualification process set to begin soon. “The Olympics is the target; we would like to win a medal there. And for me, that’s the goal: an Olympic medal. And LA is very close; it’s about a thousand days away. So yeah, just a few days off, and then we are getting back into training, and we have our first qualification, which is in January in Brazil,” he said.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games also served as part of the qualification pathway for the LA 2028 Olympics in sailing, with the continental qualification process now providing the Indian sailors another immediate target as they look to build on their performances in Japan. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)