Sailor Harshita looks to bulk up for Tokyo qualifier

CHENNAI : Most athletes are worried about weight gain these days as the lockdown has restricted them to the confines of their homes without many options for physical exercises. But not sailor Harshita Tomar! She is, in fact, doing exactly the opposite to ensure she remains fit for the Olympic qualifier. The Madhya Pradesh sailor, who had won bronze in the 2018 Asian Games in the open laser 4.7 category, has already gained around 6-7kg and is looking to put on an additional 6-7kg to stay in her best shape for the Olympic qualifier.

“I compete in laser radial class and the boat I sail means my weight needs to be 60-plus. When I won the Asiad medal, I was around 47kg but sails of that boat were different. Now, they are bigger, which means I need to be physically strong to manoeuvre the boat,” Harshita told this daily from her hometown Bhopal. GL Yadav, chief coach of the National Sailing School (NSS), Bhopal, where Harshita trains, informed his ward has been given a diet chart to gain muscle.

“It is something that she has been doing before the lockdown. She has to put on additional weight and develop muscular power as well to counter the wind pressure on the sails. Sailors are required to manoeuvre their boats with great strength. Every boat demands standard weight for its sailor and for Harshita’s boat, it is around 65kg. A dedicated physiotherapist is also working with her to ensure she stays fit for the upcoming events,” said Yadav, who is also a member of the Sailing Performance and Development Committee (SPDC) of the Yachting Association of India (YAI).

The 17-year-old sailor was a part of the Indian contingent that reached Abu Dhabi to compete in the Asian Championships before it was postponed due to the pandemic. The championship scheduled to begin on March 15 was also a qualifying event for the Tokyo Games as top-two finishers would have been guaranteed Olympic berths in laser radial class. “We reached along with our sailing equipment in February but the event got postponed. I returned to India on March 10 and have to undergo mandatory self-isolation as a precautionary measure.

I was thinking of training in Mumbai but that is out of the question now,” the sailor said. At the moment, Harshita is busy attending online classes arranged by the YAI for its sailors. “Around 100 sailors from across the country attend the classes every alternate day. National coach Tomasz Januszewski of Poland does a presentation, shows us videos apart from taking questions.

The classes deal with issues like physical and mental fitness apart from nutrition and hydration, both on and off the water,” added Tomar. Chennai’s Nethra Kumanan became the first Indian woman sailor to win a World Cup medal when she bagged laser radial bronze earlier this year. Tomar and Kumanan are India’s hopes as far as Olympic qualification of sailors is concerned. “The outbreak has affected our preparations and training but it’s the same for all. I am optimistic I will give my best when the competition resumes.”