-The Hindu
Vishnu Saravanan added another bronze to Indian sailing on September 27 after the day’s races were cancelled due to unfavourable conditions and results declared on the basis of individual positions at the end of the 10th race.
Saravanan finished third in the Men’s Dinghy ILCA7 with 34 net points, just one behind South Korea’s Jeemin Ha (33). Singapore’s Jun Han Ryan Lo took gold (26).
“As the wind conditions in the course area did not meet the requirement of racing, no medal races were completed today. According to the sailing instructions, the results of the previous day’s Open Series are final,” the official communication stated.
There are multiple races in sailing and athletes are awarded points for every race with one point for the top finisher, two for the second and so on. In the ILCA7 category, there are 11 races and the net score is calculated by deducting the worst race score from the overall score. The competitor with the lowest net score is adjudged the winner.
With the 11th and final race not held on Wednesday, scores at the end of the 10th race were considered for medals at the Ningbo Xiangshan Sailing Centre, 150 kilometres from Hangzhou.
Disappointed
The 24-year old Saravanan admitted to be disappointed to lose out on a silver by a single point but was happy to finish on the podium.
“We arrived early and trained for 15 days in the water so we knew the local current and weather. And then the first three days it was completely opposite to what we had trained in, so we had to be always switched on! It was difficult to keep the consistency because the level (of competition) was very similar and the fleet was also spread out.
“Lots of positives, few mistakes done but really proud of the way I sailed. A medal is a medal, it could have been much worse,” Vishnu admitted.
His next target is to finish in the top-10 at the Olympics — he was 20th at Tokyo.
“I know people would say it’s difficult but I like to put a personal challenge and work towards it. The worst that can happen is I won’t achieve it but at least I have a target.”
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