Sailors Varun, Ganapathy want to hire coach Warren’s services
Olympic-bound Indian sailors Varun Thakkar and K.C. Ganapathy want to continue training under experienced Australian coach Ian Stuart Warren, who helped the duo qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Varun and Ganapathy believe it will be tough to push themselves to the next level and perform well at the quadrennial event if Warren is not around for the next three months.
“We have been working with (Warren). We are the fth team that he has helped qualify for the Olympics. The experience he brings in helps in keeping our mind calm,” Varun said during a virtual press conference conducted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
He added: “We work with him privately. We take money from our parents and hire him during big events... So we want to have him at the Games as well. Not having him for the next three months will be a little dicult for us.”
Varun and Ganapathy had qualied for the Olympics in the 49er category after topping the eld at the Mussanah Open Sailing Championships.
Asked if the Yachting Association of India (YAI) has decided on the allocation of coaches, Varun said, “We have requested for our coach to come. Nethra (Kumanan) and Vishnu (Saravanan) have dierent coaches and we have a dierent coach.
“Nethra has worked with Alex (Alexandra Danisic), who is Vishnu’s coach. Nethra’s coach will be with the Greece team. So we have asked for Alex and Bunny Warren to be at the Games for the four of us.
“YAI and SAI are working on it and hopefully we should have a positive result.”
Varun and Ganapathy, who were included in the SAI’S Target Olympic Podium Scheme recently, are also waiting for things to clear up regarding their tour of Portugal in wake of the COVID19 pandemic.
“Right now six to seven teams who have already qualied are training in Portugal and we intend to join them,” Varun said.
“With the travel restrictions, we have been briefed about it, but we are waiting to see what happens in the next few weeks or so.”
Asked what happens if they fail to travel to Portugal due to the COVID19, Varun said: “Because major cities have shut down, we will head back to Rameswaram. We are happy with the place, there is not much infrastructure and we need to be in the waters. But we hope Portugal happens.” With COVID19 disrupting sports, the Indian duo qualied late, just ve months from the Olympics but Ganapathy said it never bothered them.
“In March 2020, we were little light for the boat. Our boat has a certain weight category. It performs best at around 160kg, and in Abu Dhabi last year, we were 78 kg lower,” he said.
“The lockdown helped to gain the required weight. Varun worked at the gym to gain weight, so the lockdown was a blessing in disguise.”