One who thinks sailing is chess on water, quotes tennis legend Billie Jean King to highlight the benefit of pressure and trains in the Marseille waters, sailor Vishnu Saravanan, set to become the second Indian after Farokh Tarapore to compete in multiple Olympics, is confident about his Paris 2024 outing.
Vishnu, who earned an Olympic quota place in men’s one person dinghy in the 2024 ILCA7 men’s World championships in Adelaide in January last, sounded positive ahead of his second Olympics.
“I’m looking forward to Paris with this mentality where everything is good. My physical fitness is going well. My weight is correct. I know the place where we are sailing... It’s in your consciousness that you’re sailing in your backyard. I feel like it will be a nice Olympic Games regardless of the results,” said Vishnu during an interaction, facilitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), on Tuesday.
“Tactically it will be a challenging race, which I’m looking forward to because I love playing chess. I describe sailing as chess on water, because it’s how you place your boat, according to others and according to the wind.”
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Looking back at his Olympic debut in Tokyo, where he finished 20th, 25-year-old Armyman Vishnu said he was fearless which taught him that he could “perform much better by not putting yourself underneath some of the veteran sailors.”
Trained by a fiercely competitive coach, Croatian Milan Vujasinovic, who challenges Vishnu at every step, whether on or off water, the World No. 17 Indian sailor loves the pressure as he plans to focus on his training in the final phase of his Olympics preparations.
“As Billie Jean King says, pressure is a privilege. I really like the pressure because that’s when I am in the zone. It kind of helps me do well when I’m under pressure,” said Vishnu.
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