Nethra Kumanan secures India’s second Paris 2024 Olympics quota in sailing 

Tokyo Olympian Nethra Kumanan obtained India’s second quota in sailing for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Last Chance Regatta in Hyeres, France on Friday.

Competing in the women’s dinghy (ILCA 6), Nethra managed 67 net points to finish fifth on the overall leaderboard. However, she secured the Olympic quota as the top performer among sailors from the Emerging Nations Program (ENP) who had not yet obtained a quota.

World Sailing, the world governing body for the sport, aims to help athletes from less well-known sailing nations make an impact on the highest level through its ENP programme.

The top three sailors first secured the Olympic quotas in the women’s dinghy - Romania’s Ebru Bolat (36 net points), Marilena Makri of Cyprus (37 net points) and Slovenia’s Lin Pletikos (54 net points). Six-time Olympian Tatiana Drozdovskaya (59 net points), competing as an individual neutral athlete, came fourth and missed out.

The Last Chance Regatta was the final qualifying event in sailing for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Kumanan, who represented India at the Tokyo Olympics, competed at last year’s Asian Games, the Asian Sailing Championships and this January’s ILCA6 Women’s World Championships but failed to obtain the quota from those meets.

A total of 17 Indian sailors competed at the Last Chance Regatta 2024 from April 21 to 26. However, only Kumanan finished in the top 10.

Tokyo Olympian Vishnu Saravanan secured India’s first quota in sailing for the Paris Olympics in men’s dinghy at the ILCA 7 Men's World Championship 2024 in Australia in January.

However, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at the Summer Games.