Asian Games: Netra Kumanan wins dinghy bronze, India's third sailing medal

Indian sailor Netra Kumanan won the bronze medal in the women's dinghy event at the 2026 Asian Games. A two-race final series was held at Kaiyo Yacht Harbour, after which Netra finished with 14 points.

Thailand's Sophia Montgomery won gold with five points. Singapore's Jania Young took silver with 13 points.

This is India's third medal in sailing at the 2026 Asian Games. Earlier, Manu Francis and Prince Kurisinkal Noble won silver in the men's skiff, while Harshita Tomar and Sheetal Verma won bronze in the women's skiff.

Netra had reached the final with seven recalculated points from the qualification series earlier in the week. She finished sixth in Final 1. She then made a strong comeback by winning Final 2, adding one point. On total points, she finished third.

Netra's net points were 14, made up of seven points each from the qualification series and the final. Hong Kong's Stephanie Norton also had the same number of points. However, Netra had the best head-to-head record across the series, so she got the bronze medal on the tie-break.

Netra became the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics in 2021, making history. She later qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 as well.

On Friday, in the men's dinghy, two-time Olympian Vishnu Saravanan finished fourth with 21 points. Ji Min of the Republic of Korea won gold with 9 points. Malaysia's Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy finished second with 14 points. Saravanan won bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023.

Meanwhile, India's canoe slalom campaign ended without a medal. Five Indians in all took part in five medal events: men's kayak single, men's kayak cross, women's canoe single, women's kayak single and women's kayak cross.

India's best result came in the men's kayak single, where Pradyumn Singh Rathore finished sixth among 10 finalists with a score of 125.21. The score included a six-second time penalty.