The ILCA 7 Men's World Championship functioned as an Olympic qualifying event for Paris 2024.
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Vishnu Saravanan secured India’s first sailing spot for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics at the ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship held in Australia. Over a six-day event at the Adelaide Sailing Club, Saravanan scored a net total of 125 points, placing him 26th overall but importantly placing fifth among sailors competing for Olympic slots.
The ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship was a crucial event where seven Olympic spots were available to nations that hadn’t already qualified. Sailors from Guatemala, Montenegro, Chile, Denmark, Turkey, and Sweden grabbed the other available spots. It is crucial to keep in mind that the Olympic spots are designated for the National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
They determine which athletes will represent their country in the Olympics. So Saravanan’s participation in Paris will depend on his NOC’s decision. The competition in Adelaide took place from January 26 to 31 and brought together 152 sailors in the ILCA 7 class. Another Indian participant, Mohit Saini, landed in 136th place with 329 net points.
The current Olympic champion, Australia’s Matthew Wearn, topped the event, followed by Norway’s Hermann Tomasgaard and Great Britain’s Michael Beckett. In sailing, lower scores indicate better performance. Previously, Saravanan represented India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where he finished in 20th place out of 35. He will aim to compete in Paris from July 28 to August 8, 2024.
Just last year, the 24-year-old sailor took home a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in the same category. Vishnu’s journey began at age 17 when he joined the MEG Boys Sports Company as a cadet. His natural ability soon shone through as he started bagging multiple awards at junior national events, becoming a youth national champion in 2016.
After impressing with a silver medal win in Hong Kong that year, he was recruited into the Indian Army as a Naib Subedar, where he found strong support for his sailing pursuits. In 2018, Saravanan became a senior national champion and moved to Malta to train with Sail Coach Academy under Moldovan Olympian Alexandr Denisiuc.
This training bore fruit; he bagged a bronze at the Laser Under-21 World Championships in Croatia in 2019, gearing him up for the Olympic qualifiers. However, Saravanan’s path hit a snag with the COVID-19 pandemic, which threw his plans into disarray with his gear stuck in Abu Dhabi and Vishnu back in Malta.
Nonetheless, he endured the setbacks and now stands as India’s Olympic hopeful in sailing for 2024. To make it to the Olympics, you need real toughness, willpower, and lots of practice, plus a bit of inborn skill. Vishnu Saravanan has what it takes. His dad, Ramachandran Saravanan, an ex-sailor and soldier, groomed Vishnu and his sister Ramya’s sailing gifts.
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