Neha Thakur, 17, led the show with a silver while Eabad Ali claimed a bronze, as India bagged two medals in sailing at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.
Neha powered India to the first medal of the day when she finished second in girls’ dinghy ILCA-4 event.
India’s second medal came in the men’s windsurfer RS:X event where the 29-year-old Ali with a net score of 52 points, came third behind Natthaphong Phonoppharat of Thailand and gold medallist Wonwoo Cho of Korea.
In a gruelling 14-race event, Ali’s worst race was second and third where he did not finish as seven points were deducted from his total 59 points. In the end, there was a big 23-point gap between Ali and the silver medallist.
A rising sailor from National Sailing School (NSS) in Bhopal, Neha finished with a total of 32 points but her net score of 27 helped her earn the second spot behind gold medallist Noppassorn Khunboonjan of Thailand.
In sailing, the competitor’s worst score from all the races is subtracted from the total points to get the net score. The one with the lowest net score is adjudged the winner.
The girls’ dinghy ILCA-4 category consists of 11 races and Neha finished with 32
total points. Neha’s worst race was the fifth one where she got five points to end with a net score of 27.
The ILCA-4 is defined as a one-design dinghy class in the laser series and is a one-design class of sailboat.
If the Asian Games were held last year as per the original schedule, Neha would not have been a part of the Indian team as Ritika Dangi was the country’s No. 1 in her event at that point in time.
However, Ritika exceeded the age limit and was rendered ineligible as ILCA-4 class is meant for U-17 girls. That opened the doors for Neha.
Neha, the eldest sibling from a farmer’s family from Amaltaj village, about 120km from Bhopal, got her career breakthrough after being picked for the NSS during
a talent-hunt programme in 2017.
Her coaches plan to put Neha with Ritika in the senior class women’s ILCA-6, an Olympic category, keeping the Paris Games in mind.
With inputs from PTI
