Vishnu Saravanan bags second Olympic berth

CHENNAI: Indian sailor Vishnu Saravanan secured the country’s first Paris 2024 Olympics quota in sailing at the ILCA World Championship 2024 in Adelaide, Australia.

Competing in the one-person dinghy event at the Adelaide Sailing Club, Saravanan accumulated 125 net points over six days and secured the 26th position on the overall leaderboard. Notably, he claimed the fifth spot among eligible sailors to secure a quota place for the Paris Olympics.

‘Mamba Mentality’ is the mantra that keeps me going. I use it to control my state of mind and push myself to be the best. Kobe Bryant, arguably one of the greatest basketball players of all time, left a strong legacy, and he’s one of my inspirations, said Vishnu, speaking to DT Next.

For Saravanan, the central theme inside the Mamba Mentality includes following your passion, making it your obsession, and being resilient, relentless, and fearless. He says he emphasises these qualities and thrives on them, which in turn has helped him achieve success. “Vishnu Saravanan has secured India’s first Paris Olympics quota in sailing at the ILCA 7 World Championship in Adelaide. Clinching one of the seven Olympic quotas available at the event, #TOPScheme Athlete Vishnu outsailed many Asian sailors to finish 26th overall and secure the Paris berth,” the Sports Authority of India shared on X.

In the 2023 World Sailing Championships held last year, Saravanan narrowly missed securing a spot for the Paris Olympics. Finishing 23rd in the overall race standings, he fell just seven places short of obtaining one of the 16 Paris quota places available.

The ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship served as a qualifying event for Paris 2024, with seven quotas on offer for countries that had not qualified for the Olympics earlier.

The other six quotas on offer at the Adelaide meet went to Guatemala, Montenegro, Chile, Denmark, Turkey, and Sweden.

Last year, the 24-year-old won the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in the same sailing category.

Saravanan, who is a U21 World Championships bronze medallist from 2019, also represented India at Tokyo 2020, where he finished 20th in a field of 35.