Indian sailor Nethra Kumanan secured her first Asian Games medal by winning bronze in the women’s dinghy event at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. She dedicated the achievement to her parents and supporters after her fourth Games appearance.
At 29, Kumanan improved on her previous finishes, which included seventh in Incheon 2014, fifth in Jakarta 2018, and fourth in Hangzhou. She accumulated 14 points in the final series at Kaiyoh Yacht Harbour, placing sixth in the first race and winning the second, which secured her third place behind Thailand’s Sophia Montgomery and Singapore’s Jania Ang.
Reflecting on her performance, Kumanan said, “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.”
Kumanan, the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics at Tokyo 2020, also competed at Paris 2024, finishing 35th and 21st respectively. She plans to take a short break before resuming training to qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
She stated, “Now it will be qualifying for LA and then doing the best result possible in the LA Olympic Games. 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.”
Kumanan’s bronze medal was India’s third sailing medal 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.
Two-time Olympian Vishnu Saravanan finished fourth in the men’s dinghy event with 21 points, narrowly missing a second consecutive Asian Games medal after bronze at Hangzhou. The 27-year-old Indian Army Naib Subedar noted the challenges presented by the venue’s weather and tidal conditions.
He said, “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.”
Saravanan expressed happiness for Kumanan’s medal, stating, “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 also praised Harshita Tomar for becoming a two-time Asian Games medalist with her bronze in the women’s skiff, saying, “I am very happy for Harshita [Tomar]who is like a little sister to me and she is a double Asian Games medalist now.”
Looking ahead, Saravanan remains focused on securing an Olympic medal at Los Angeles 2028, with qualification set to begin soon.
He commented, “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.”
The Aichi-Nagoya Games also acted as a qualification stage for the LA 2028 Olympics in sailing, setting the continental qualification process as the next immediate goal for Indian sailors building on their performances in Japan.