Hangzhou: The announcement that the 12th and final race in the Men’s Dinghy–ILCA7 class was abandoned spread disappointment to the Indian sailing camp as it prevented Olympian Vishnu Saravanan from going for the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, here Wednesday.
Instead, Vishnu had to be satisfied with the bronze medal as he could not get the chance to overtake opponents from Singapore and the Republic of Korea. Saravanan finished third behind gold medallist Jun Han Ryan Lo of Singapore and silver medallist Jeemin Ha of the Republic of Korea.
“Vishnu was to fight for gold. But unfortunately, there was no wind today and the race has to be abandoned,” said a senior Yachting Association of India (YAI) official from Ningbo, where the Asian Games sailing competitions are being held.
Vishnu had Tuesday jumped into medal contention by winning the 11th race while his close rival NB Benzy of Hong Kong China did not finish the race and was handed a 14-point penalty.
Vishnu is the Asian Champion in the Men’s Laser class, having won the gold medal in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in 2022. This was his first medal in the Asian Games.
This is India’s third medal in sailing at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou after Neha Thakur (silver) and Eabad Ali (bronze) won Tuesday. It was the first time in the Asian Games that India had won medals in ILCA 7 and RSX class.
Vishnu’s win in the 11th race at the Ningbo Xiangshan Sailing Centre at a sea resort in Ningbo took his tally to 48 total points and 34 net points.
And when the final race was cancelled Wednesday, Vishnu lost the chance to overtake Lo, who was placed first with 32 total points and 26 net points, and Jeemin Ha, who had 42 total points and 33 net points. With a good race and some luck, Vishnu could have overtaken his two rivals and bagged gold.
Vishnu had got off to a superb start in the 19th Asian Games as he won the first and third races. He finished second in the sixth race but had to retire in the eighth race, which hampered his progress.
However, Vishnu, the 24-year-old sailor who represented India in the Men’s Laser class in the Tokyo Olympic Games and was ranked 20th overall, came back strongly by finishing second in the 10th race and 1st in the 11th race to put himself in a great position to fight for the gold medal.
But unfortunately, weather conditions ruined his day and he had to be satisfied with a bronze medal.
IANS