Mussanah Open sailing: Nethra Kumanan consolidates top spot on Day 3

India’s Nethra Kumanan continued her fine form to maintain her stranglehold in the women’s Laser Radial event in the Mussanah Open Championship 2021 being held at the Millennium Resort in Mussanah, Oman.

Having led the charts after Sunday’s races, Nethra Kumanan bagged first place finishes in both the fifth and sixth races held on Monday to consolidate her position at the top of the table with a net total of 7.

Another Indian Ramya Saravanan, who finished third in the fifth race and fifth in the sixth race, also retained her overnight third position with a net total of 20. Harshita Tomar (28 net total), though, slid down to the seventh spot from fourth after a disappointing day at the office.

Tomar finished seventh and eighth in Monday’s races.

In the Laser Standard class, Indian sailor Vishnu Saravanan finished 10th in the final race on Monday but his third-place finish in race five was enough to keep him planted in the third spot with a net total of 22. The lowest finish is excluded from the net total calculation.

There was positive movement in the 49er class though. The Indian team of KC Ganapathy (Helm) and Varun Thakkar (Crew), who were third on the leaderboard after Sunday’s races, moved up to the top of the table.

Ganapathy and Thakkar finished third in race seven, first in race eight and second in race nine to bring their net total down to 26. With the three podium finishes, the Asian Games bronze medallists now lead the chasing pack by nine points.

The Laser Standard and Laser Radial categories have 10 races while all the other events consist of 12 races. The top teams in each category compete in the medal races where an aggregate of points will be considered to determine winners.

The Mussanah Open is an Olympic qualifier for Asia and Africa. Sailors can secure places for the Tokyo 2020 Games with good finishes in their events.

Indian sailors standings at Mussanah Open after Day 3

Laser Radial class

1. Nethra Kumanan – 7 points net total

3. Ramya Saravanan – 20 points net total

7. Harshita Tomar – 28 points net total

12. Jayalakshmi Sundaravadivel – 55 points net total

Laser Standard class

3. Vishnu Saravanan – 22 points net total

7. Upamanyu Dutta – 36 points net total

9. Mohit Saini – 41 points net total

16. Gitesh – 68 points net total

19. Ram Milan Yadav – 85 points net total

49er class

1. KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar – 26 points net total

9. Prince Noble and Manu Francis – 58 points net total

12. Sandip Jain and Munna Pandit – 75 points net total

49er FX class

4. Ekta Yadav and Ritika Dangi – 27 points net total

RS:X Men class

5. Jerome Savarimuthu – 29 points net total

6. Ebad Ali – 33 points net total

RS:X Women class

3. Ishwariya Ganesh – 15 points net total