The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has approved a proposal for four Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) sailors to participate in foreign training and competitions from May to September 2023. The four Olympic sailors, Nethra Kumanan, Vishnu Saravanan, Varun Thakkar, and KC Ganapathy, will be training and competing in various competitions around the world before heading to Hangzhou, China for the upcoming Asian Games.

Nethra will compete in a variety of events while training in Gran Canaria, Spain, through the end of September. She will also travel to Keil, Germany for Kiel Week, Marseille, France for the Olympic Test Event, and Scheveningen, Netherlands for the World Sailing Championship.

Vishnu, on the other hand, will train and compete in a variety of locations (including Mumbai, Valencia, Milan, Dublin, The Hague, Croatia, and The Hague) over the next few months.

Before travelling to China for the Asian Games, he is scheduled to compete in the World Championship (Olympic qualifying events), the World Championship (EurILCA Europa Cup), the ILCA Open Asian Championship, the Marseille Olympic Test Event, and the EurILCA Europa Cup.

Varun and Ganapathy’s team will train and compete in Keil, Germany (Kiel Week), The Hague (World Championship), France (Olympic Test Event), and China.

According to the statement, the total estimated cost for all four sailors was approximately Rs. 1.50 crore, which included costs for Nethra, Varun-Ganapathy, and three foreign coaches as well as equipment.