In a historic first for India, 4 sailors from the nation will compete at this 12 months’s Olympics after Vishnu Saravanan and the pair of Ganapathy Chengappa and Varun Thakkar made the reduce for Tokyo within the Asian Qualifiers in Oman. This was after Nethra Kumanan on Wednesday grew to become the primary Indian lady sailor to qualify for the Olympics within the laser radial occasion within the Mussanah Open Championship, which is an Asian Olympic qualifying occasion. It can also be the primary time that India will compete in three crusing occasions within the Olympics. So far, India had competed in just one occasion in all the sooner Olympics although two sailors represented the nation on 4 events.
(*4*) Yachting Association of India joint secretary normal Capt Jitendra Dixit informed PTI. “Nethra already qualified on Wednesday and today Vishnu and then the pair of Ganapathy and Varun made it.” On Thursday, Saravanan was the primary to qualify for the Tokyo Games in Laser Standard Class after ending second within the general standings.
Later, the duo of Chengappa and Thakkar completed on prime of the factors desk within the 49er Class. The two had received a bronze medal within the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. Two sailors make a crew within the 49er Class whereas laser class is a single sailor occasion.
Also, two sailors qualify for Tokyo Olympics from laser class occasions whereas just one crew can accomplish that within the 49er class. Saravanan was third until the penultimate day on Wednesday however received the medal race on Thursday to leap to second place general with 53 factors and ebook a Tokyo Olympics quota. “I congratulate Vishnu Saravanan who has qualified for Tokyo Olympic in the Laser Std Class Sailing event at the Mussanah Championships. Our athletes are making a mark in all disciplines!” tweeted sports activities minister Kiren Rijiju. The Indian pipped Thailand’s Keerati Bualong (57 factors), who was second until Wednesday, for the Tokyo Games spot.
Singapore’s Ryan Lo Jun Han (31 factors) was first general within the Laser Standard Class desk. “Till Wednesday, Vishnu was third behind the Thai sailor though both were on same points. Today in the medal race, Vishnu finished first and so naturally he ended above the Thai sailor in points table,” Dixit mentioned.
“Two sailors qualify for Olympics in laser class and Vishnu finished second. The Singapore sailor was well above Vishnu before today and so Vishnu could not dislodge him (from top position).” Kumanan completed sixth within the laser radial class medal race on Thursday however nonetheless ended at second general with 30 factors to verify the Olympics spot. Dutchwoman Emma Savelon (29 factors), who completed fourth within the medal race on Thursday, topped the standings however she will’t be thought of for the Asian qualifying spot.
Stephanie Norton of Hong Kong, who completed third general, additionally certified. There have been 4 cases of two Indian sailors qualifying for the Olympics earlier however they took half in the identical occasion. The Indian pair of Farokh Tarapore and Dhruv Bhandari competed within the 470 class within the 1984 Olympics. Tarapore and Kelly Rao took half in the identical occasion within the 1988 Games. Tarapore — in his third Olympics — and Cyrus Cama took half in the identical 470 class within the 1992 Barcelona Games earlier than Malav Shroff and Sumeet Patel competed in 49er class skiff within the 2004 Athens Olympics.
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