Nethra Kumanan hones mental skills ahead of Asiad

CHENNAI : Nethra Kumanan has long been at the forefront of women’s sailing in India. She remains the only Indian woman sailor to have qualified for the Olympics, a distinction that underlines her trailblazing journey. Having first competed at the Asian Games in 2014 at the age of 17, Nethra gears up for her fourth appearance this year.


The 28-year-old from Chennai topped in all the three national trials in the ILCA 6 division and the official announcement of the Indian contingent will be done closer to the continental extravaganza. While Nethra has been a regular participant at the top-level competitions, she has not been able to live up to the billing. The two-time Olympian finished fourth and fifth in the previous two editions of the Asiad respectively and had below-par outings in the Olympics too.

“I have the technical ability but always struggled to perform under pressure in big events. So, I have been working a lot with my psychologist and coach. I do visualization exercises to prepare myself better and they have been helping me. At the last Asian Games, I had the level, and in my mind, the worst-case scenario was winning a bronze medal. But when I finished fourth, I felt that it was a clear sign that I needed to work on the mental side of my game and deliver under pressure,” Nethra told TOI from Spain.

“Visualization is part of my warm-up. It is something I do when I am not racing or sailing. It was a big reason for my qualification for the Tokyo Olympics but I was never disciplined enough to keep at it,” Nethra said.



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