Historic! Army sailor overcomes Thai, Chinese counterparts to qualify for Tokyo Olympics!

Pune, April 17: In a major development, Subedar Vishnu Saravanan of Mumbai-based Army Yachting Node has booked a berth in the upcoming Olympics. He overcame stiff competition from more experienced Thai & Chinese competitors in the recently concluded Mussanah Open Championship at AI Mussanah Sports city, Oman.

 

 

Apart from him, Nethra Kumanan, KC Ganapathy, and Varun Thakkar qualified for the Tokyo Games. While Nethra, Vishu and Ganapathy are part of the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, Vishnu represents the Indian Army.

 

In a fiercely contested series of ten fleet races and one medal race, the sailor from Madras Engineers Group proved his mettle by securing silver medal and winning qualification spot for Tokyo Olympics in Laser Standard Class.

 

 

It is pertinent to note that Vishnu Saravanan is a product of Boys Sports Company scheme and presently training under “Mission Olympics” program of Indian Army.

 

The creditable and historical performance, by the youngest Indian sailor ever to qualify for Olympics till date in sailing discipline, came after all odds as Vishnu was tied on points with two times Olympian Keerati Bualong (Thailand) after ten races.

 

 

"Vishnu displayed maturity in handling the pressure and went on to win the medal race which was contested only by top ten sailors after ten fleet races were completed. The 22-year-old Junior Commissioned Officer who has age on his side and will surely bring glory to the Nation at the International Arena in years to come," the defense ministry said.