Malayali cousins win sailing silver in Asian Games debut

The Malayali duo of Manu Francis and Prince Kurisinkal Noble bagged the silver medal in the men's skiff opening race 9 of the Asian Games sailing competition here on Thursday.

The team of Harshita Tomar and Shital Verma won the bronze medal in the women's skiff sailing event.

The Indian duo concluded the competition with 24 net points and 28 total points across nine races to finish ahead of China, who were disqualified thrice in race 2, race 6 and race 8.

Japan won the gold medal with 11 net points and 14 total points, while Hong Kong bagged silver with 15 net points and 18 total points.

Earlier, the 31-year-old Francis and the 30-year-old Noble, who hail from Ernakulam and are first cousins, combined for a total of 23 points after nine races and finished behind China, who totalled 16 points in the competition where the lowest total score wins the regatta.
The Chinese team comprised Wen Zaiding and Liu Tian.

Points in men's skiff sailing are decided by the finish position in each race and a first place brings in one point to the total.

The Indians won race 3 and finished second in races 1, 5 and 9 during the competition. China, meanwhile, topped four races to finish as the best-placed side. Skiffs are small, light boats.

Son of a fisherman who had died during the 2018 catastrophic flood in the state, Noble said winning a medal in his debut Asian Games was a special feeling.

"It was our first Asian Games and winning a medal is very special. It was a tough competition and we somehow won the silver," Noble told PTI after the final.

Both train at the Army Yachting Node in Mumbai.
"It was very tough actually. It was windy. We are not much comfortable with windy conditions. But we survived and somehow won a silver," Francis said.
"In light (windy) conditions, we are pretty good. We train in India, and in India almost every time it is light wind."

For Francis, it was a mixed feeling as he felt they could have won gold.
"We don't feel much about it. Happy and not that much happy. Because we could have won the gold," he said.
"Initially, we didn’t know we were in the silver medal position. We thought we were fighting for bronze, so it was lucky. We lack good technique in these kind of windy conditions. It was very choppy. But in the last race, the boat was flying. So we were happy about that. But we need to work more on (sailing in) heavy windy conditions."

On their chemistry, Francis said: "We are cousins, our mothers and we grew up together. We understand each other and that make it easier to coordinate."

According to a profile shared by Sports Authority of India, Noble and Francis developed an interest in sailing at a young age and had trained at the National Sailing School in Bhopal and Muziris Yachting Club in Kerala.

They had earlier combined to win a bronze medal in the Asian Sailing Championships.
The Indian combination could not win any of the nine races but managed to finish second in races 3 and 4.