Nethra Kumman created history by becoming the first Indian women to win a bronze medal in the Sailing World Cup. The feet was achieved in the Hempel World Series in Miami which was held at Unites States of America. She achieved the feat in round two of the tournament. The other two sailors who raced past Nethra in the water were Erika Reineke from USA and Vasilieia Karachaliou of Greece who clinched the gold and silver respectively in the laser radial event.
Post winning the Medal was Nethra was quoted saying, “After winning the medal race on the final day, I didn’t realize my performance had helped me win bronze until a fellow sailor had informed me. It was one of the most memorable win for me.”
Nethra has previously represented India in two edition of the Asian Games in 2014 and 2018 respectively. She has quite a few medals at the national level. To improve her skills had spent training at Gran Canaria, part of Spain’s canary Islands. “Training in Gran Canaria has helped me improve my skillset. To train alongside top sailors such as Ebru Bolat (who was 7th in event) and Vasileia automatically brings the best out of me.”
Though Nethra had won but was little sad as her best friend and roommate Matilda Talluri who finished 5th in the race. She further added “I took the bronze medal from a friend, so not a lot of celebration. I’m just proud of myself and just at peace knowing that something I’m doing is working for me.”
Her dreams are been supported by her father, who runs an IT company, is of the opinion that her performance at the worlds will help the 22 year old to qualify for the Olympic berth.Nethra had finished in the position 4th in the same category at the 2018 Asian which was held in Jakarta and that was a changing face in her life and brought about a growth in the performance levels. “At the Asian Games, I was under a lot of pressure to get a spot for the Olympics. A lot of it was self-inflicted and so I failed there. I think this year I’m trying to be more consistent with training and always work towards the big goal of the Olympics.”
Nethra will get a chance to qualify for the olympics in the upcoming Asian Sailing Championship which is all set to take place in Au Dhai From 15th to 22nd March. Nethra is working with a psychologist Mon Brokman who is keeping a close eye on her mentally and a nutrition. “I am thankful to GoSports Foundation for helping me find a nutritionist and a psychologist – Brokman – who has rich experience of working with sailors in the past. India will have to finish among the top-2 countries at that event to make the Olympics.”
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