TN sailor Nethra gets a feel of high-level competition post break

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Sailor Nethra Kumanan was confined to her home in Gran Canaria, part of Spain’s Canary Islands, in the initial weeks of the lockdown before training at the waters from May. However, the 22-year-old got her first taste of high-level competitive sailing in about seven months at the Senior Laser European championships which concluded in Gdansk, Poland on Tuesday evening. She stood second in the silver fleet among 53 sailors, and was placed 55th overall out of 107 participants.Nethra feels she could have handled the pressure better during the tournament. “Despite committing a few mistakes in the qualifying races and my boat capsizing on a few occasions --- I was able to make a comeback. I have worked hard on the mental aspect of my game, but this event has shown that there is a room for improvement when it comes to me handling pressure,” Nethra told TOI. On the positive side, Nethra was pleased with her overall speed in the event. “My performance level in large fleet has gone up and so has my confidence. I have given a lot of emphasis on increasing my speed during training and I was happy to achieve that as well in the event,” she said.Once Nethra heads back to her base in Gran Canaria, the next couple of weeks will see her immersed in studies. “I am in my second year of engineering at SRM college and the online classes keep me busy. It is a challenge to balance my studies with sailing,” she said.Another challenge for her is to be staying away from family for so many months now. Nethra is understandably homesick but with travel-related restrictions, it may be difficult for her to return in the coming months. “If I do come back to India for some time, it will be difficult for me to return. So, despite being homesick --- I have no choice but to stay here and continue with my training,” said Nethra, who became the first Indian woman sailor to win a medal — a bronze — at the Sailing World Cup held at Miami, United States, in January. Her next competitive tournament will be in December where she will be part of the Canary Olympic sailing week. Nethra is keen to build momentum before the all-important Asian Olympic qualifiers at Abu Dhabi in March next year.