India clinched three medals in an unusual sport of sailing with Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar winning silver in the 49er FX Women’s event, Harshita Tomar claiming bronze in the Open Laser 4.7 and the pair of Varun Thakkar Ashok and Chengappa Ganapathy Kelapanda winning bronze with a total of 53 after race 15 in the 49er men’s event as 18th Asian games.
Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar’s story
The 20-year-old Varsha and 27-year-old Sweta combined to produce a total score of 40 after 15 races to finish second at the Indonesia National Sailing Centre.
They are also a medical student and sailing is just their passion but this passion brought them to the greatest stage of Asia where they bagged a medal for their country.
Harshita’s story
16-year-old Harshita totalled 62 after race 12 to finish third.
Harshita used to live in Kashmir but getting back to Madhya Pradesh was not easy for her as she was not used to deal with the heat of central India. Doctors adviced her to be in water to deal with the heat that got her into sailing.
Varun Thakkar Ashok and Chengappa Ganapathy Kelapanda
The duo topped the race 15 to finish 3rd overall and clinch a bronze medal in men’s 49er race.
Chengappa expressed his happiness after the match by saying that “It is the first time that the sport has got him some money”.
