Sailing girls fight federation to be in team, win silver
VARSHA GAUTHAM AND SWETA SHERVEGAR, WHO WON SILVER IN 49ERFX EVENT, MOVED DELHI HC AGAINST YACHTING ASSOCIATION AFTER NON SELECTION
JAKARTA: A bitter court battle almost forced Varsha Gautham to quit but perseverance helped her to tide over the crisis and clinch a silver medal with partner Sweta Shervegar in sailing at the Asian Games on Friday.
Besides a silver, India also won two bronze medals.
Competing in 49erFX, the 20-year-old Varsha and her crew partner Sweta Shervegar, completed the 15-race event with 40 net points to finish second behind winners Lim Min Kimberly and Low Rui UI Qi Cecilia from Singapore, who had 14 net points.
Sailors are given points after each race, and the pair, which gets the least points, is declared the winner.
TWO BRONZE MEDALS
Harshita Tomar claimed bronze in Open Laser 4.7. Harshita, just 16, totalled 62 after race 12 to finish third.
The third medal was won by Ashok Varun Thakkar and Chengappa Ganapathy Kelapanda who won bronze in the 49er men’s event with a total of 53 after race 15.
Varsha and Sweta were initially not chosen by the Yachting Association of India in 49erFX event and it was only after a court battle that they could make it to the Indonesian capital.
“These were stressful three months. But everything has paid off. There were a lot of ups and downs. A lot happened. At least 10 times I thought, it’s not worth it, I can’t handle it but somehow I continued. It was certainly not a glamorous race, there was pressure,” Varsha said.
“There was a realistic chance of losing today but we stayed clam,” Varsha said, adding that they needed donations and crowd funding to pursue their passion.
Varsha and Sweta, who is a medicine student and was a sailing coach before teaming up with her partner, were not selected by the federation since they had lost the trials to Ekta Yadav and Shaila.
After the pair won silver at the Asian Championship ahead of the preferred team, Varsha argued that they should be considered for the Games, since the Asian Championship was a better platform to judge capability.
When YAI refused to change the nomination, Varsha approached the Delhi High Court, which asked the IOA to select team. Eventually they were selected in the team.