Pune: Having won three medals (one silver and two bronze) in each of the past two editions, Indian sailors will be looking to add to their tally when they set out on the water at the Kaiyoh Yacht Harbour in Gamagori City, venue for sailing events at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.Vishnu Saravanan (ILCA-7), Nethra Kumanan (ILCA-6), Harshita Tomar (49erFX) and debutant Manu Francis (49er) give India a chance to improve on its best-ever showing at the continental event.Vishnu, a two-time Olympian, will be keen to upgrade the bronze he won in Hangzhou, while Nethra will look to set the record straight after narrowly missing out on the podium.Harshita sailed into the record books when she won bronze as a 16-year-old in the Open Laser 4.7 event in Jakarta. Having missed out in 2023, she will be keen to add another chapter to her sailing story.India’s medal hopes could have been even brighter had the Sports Ministry not struck down the selection of the junior crew. India had medal prospects in four of the seven junior events, according to an expert.“There are events which have only four entries. That is a 75 percent chance of winning a medal. Why stop the boys and girls? How does ranking matter when there is a high chance of winning a medal?” wondered the expert.RIDING THE MOMENTUMIndia has won four equestrian gold medals overall, but three of them came in 1982 before the quartet of Anush Agarwalla, Hriday Chheda, Divyakriti Singh and Sudipti Hajela broke the lean patch with the team dressage crown in the last edition.Before the two silver medals in Jakarta, India had managed only three bronzes in the intervening years.Anush and Divyakriti scripted history with India’s maiden individual and women’s medals respectively. Both won’t be competing in Japan but the team, nevertheless, will be looking for an encore at the Equestrian Park in Setagaya Ward, which also hosted the programme during the 2021 Olympics.DAVID LOOKS TO BEND IT LIKE BECKHAMSpeaking of medal droughts, few have been longer than the one the cyclists will be aiming to end. India have not climbed the podium since 1951, when the men won a silver (team pursuit) and two bronzes (time trial and sprint).The 14-member squad, spearheaded by Ronaldo Singh and David Beckham, has shown promise. Ronaldo was a Junior World No. 1 and the first Indian to win an individual silver medal at the Asian Track Championships. Beckham finished in the top eight in Hangzhou.The pair will be joined by Jemsh Singh and Rojit Singh in the team sprint, while Harshveer Singh and Vishavjeet Singh will carry India’s hopes in the madison and other events.India’s main rivals are expected to be China, hosts Japan and Malaysia.
