Fourth time lucky: Sailor Nethra Kumanan claims bronze in Asian Games women's dinghy

GAMAGORI CITY (JAPAN): India's Nethra Kumanan on Friday clinched the bronze medal in the women's dinghy event of the Asian Games sailing competition here, securing her first podium finish at the continental showpiece in her fourth appearance.

The 29-year-old two-time Olympian from Chennai logged 14 points in all (7 in final and 7 from qualification races) to be placed third behind gold-winner Sophia Montgomery (5) of Thailand and silver-medallist Jania Ang (13) of Singapore.

"Very mixed feelings. It was my fourth Asian Games, and it is nice to finally be able to go away with something, but I made a lot of mistakes and gave away a lot of points," Nethra said about her performance.

Points in sailing are decided by the finishing position in each race and a first place brings in one point to the total. The lowest total score wins the regatta.

Nethra won the second of her final two races and was sixth in the other. She had competed in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Asiads, finishing at the agonising fourth position in two of these editions.

"It was windy and shifty. In the first race, I made a huge mistake at the start. I tacked without pressure, without wind, and I was immediately out of the game," she said about her two final races.

"I knew I had to win the last race, or it would be over for me. That is what I did. I had to fight back," she added.

Describing sailing as a mental game, Nethra said it all about ensuring lesser mistakes.

"It's about who makes fewer mistakes and who deals with the pressure the best. I did make a lot of mistakes, but in the last race I managed to save a little bit," she said.

In the men's competition, India's Vishnu Saravanan ended fourth despite claiming the second spot in both his final races as his accumulated qualification score was a slightly higher 17 points, which left him with an overall score of 21.

The 27-year-old Saravanan, who is also an Olympian, had won a bronze medal in the previous edition of the Games.

The gold in his event went to Korea's Jeemin Ha (9), while Hong Kong, China's Nicholas Halliday took the silver with 11 points, followed by Malaysia's Mohd Khairulnizam (14).

On Thursday, the Indian pair of Manu Francis and Kurisinkal Noble bagged the silver medal in the men's skiff competition, while the women's team of Harshita Tomar and Shital Verma claimed the bronze medal.