Nethra Kumanan wins sailing bronze at Asian Games

Gamagori Indian sailor Nethra Kumanan ended a 12-year wait for an Asian Games medal by winning bronze in the women’s dinghy event at the Aichi-Nagoya Games on Friday. Nethra finished with 14 net points after the two-race final series at the Kaiyoh Yacht Harbor. Thailand’s Sophia Montgomery won gold with five points, while Singapore’s Jania Ang claimed silver with 13 points. Nethra entered the final series with seven recalculated points from the qualification rounds. She finished sixth in Final 1, adding six points, before producing a strong performance in Final 2 to win the race and add just one point. The result lifted her to third place overall. Nethra finished level on 14 net points with Hong Kong’s Stephanie Norton but secured the bronze medal on the tie-break, having recorded the better head-to-head result during the series. The medal is India’s third in sailing at the 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. Nethra had finished seventh, fifth and fourth at the previous three Asian Games editions. She also made history by becoming the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics, securing her Tokyo 2020 berth through the Mussanah Open Championship in Oman. She later qualified for Paris 2024. Two-time Olympian Vishnu Saravanan finished fourth in the men’s dinghy with 21 points. South Korea’s Ha Jee-min won gold with nine points, while Malaysia’s Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy claimed bronze with 14. India’s canoe slalom campaign ended without a medal. Five Indian athletes competed across five medal events. Pradhyumna Singh Rathod produced India’s best result, finishing sixth among 10 finalists in the men’s kayak singles with a score of 125.21, including a six-second time penalty.