Nethra Kumanan becomes the First Indian Woman Sailor to earn a berth in Olympics!
Nethra Kumanan is a trained dancer, singer, and painter and now an Olympic-qualified sailor. Her qualification is the result of her powerful performance at the Laser Radial race at the Mussanah Open Championship in Oman, an Asian and African qualifier on April 7. The 23-year-old virtually qualified in the laser radial class by finishing first and second in races nine and ten respectively. Although she is the 10th Indian to qualify for the sailing event, her name went down in history as she became the first Indian woman to do so.
(Photo: Facebook/NethraKumanan)
She was a bit disappointed to miss the gold medal but was more ecstatic to earn a berth in the Olympics. “I’m very honoured to have made this history, and it gives me a lot of relief. I don’t let stress bother me because I know people will say what they want to say. The Olympics have been a goal for a really long time, and I’m sure it’ll be very exciting to represent my country!”, she says, as reported by the Hindustan Times.
Ms Kumanan, who has been training in Spain for the last year and a half, has also represented India in the 2014 and 2018 Asian games. She trained under her two-time Olympian Hungarian coach Tamas Eszes. Her interest in sports grew during a summer camp in school. She has tried her hands on several sports like basketball, tennis, and cycling but found her true passion in sailing. Nethra’s parents used to put her in a lot of extracurricular activities. Every summer meant a different camp for her. She joined sailing at the age of 12 while also receiving training in Bharatanatyam, singing, and painting. But as sailing required more time, she had to give everything else up.
Reminiscing about her training days, she says, “I still think Bharatanatyam has taught me a lot. Discipline, hard work, and dedication are things I have learned from the dance form and something that helps me even today”, as told to The Indian Express. She has trained under renowned guru Alarmel Valli.
(Photo: Bogee_toth / Sailingacademygc)
The road to success was not a lot easy for Nethra. She had to quit school when she was in Class XI as they didn’t allow more than 10 days of leave. As she was training abroad, it became difficult to manage the regular school. So, she left regular schooling when she qualified for Asian games and did her Class XII through an open school. She is currently in her second year of BE mechanical engineering. She is four years behind and is coincidentally in the same class as her younger brother, but has no regrets. The decision was the need of the hour and has kept her focused.
Also, she mentions that sailing being an expensive sport, needs a lot of funds. Fortunately, her father can manage the funds, but there was a time when she had to stop sailing for a year because of it. Now she is grateful for the support she has from different places to pursue the sport.
Talking about the scarcity of sailing opportunities in India, she says, “Sailing is a European sport in some way. There are clubs in India that provide opportunities, but here we focus more on studies and look at sailing as an extracurricular activity that will give us an edge during admissions. Also, it’s more of the navy or the army that sail, and finding coaches is difficult as well. I hope it picks up in India shortly”.
(Nethra Kumanan with her father VC Kumanan | Photo: The Indian Express)
Nethra dedicated her success to her father, VC Kumanan who has been her rock all along. Her parents were by her side even during the qualifying event in Oman. Her own hard work and support from her parents every step of the way have led her to qualify for this prestigious international event. And this is not it. Earlier last year, she won a bronze medal at the Hempel World Cup Series in Miami. She is also the first Indian woman to win a World Cup medal in sailing.
From being a dancer, painter to a world-renowned sailor, Nethra Kumanan is a real powerhouse of talent. It’s a proud moment for the whole country watching her shatter glass ceilings and fulfil her and her parent’s dreams. We, at Fuzia, applaud her talent and wish her luck for one of the many Olympics events of her career. We cannot wait to see her in action at the games.
Indian women are reaching new heights every day. Recently, an all women-crew piloted an SCI vessel for the first time in maritime history. Read this blog to know more about it.
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Originally published at https://www.fuzia.com.