India’s Nethra Kumanan has virtually qualified for Tokyo Olympics in the laser radial class of the Asian Olympic qualification championships here on Wednesday. The 23-year-old sailed wonderfully well on the penultimate day to finish races nine and ten in first and second positions respectively.

The Indian pair of Varun Thakkar and K.C. Ganapathy finished on top in the 49er class by securing fourth, second and third places in races 13, 14 and 15 respectively. For the duo to qualify, it has to finish in the top six on Thursday.

Nethra has 18 nett points while her nearest Asian competitor Stephanie Norton of Hong Kong is in fourth place with 41 points. Even if Norton finishes first in the final race -- all sailors in all classes get double points -- on Thursday, and if Nethra doesn’t complete the race, Norton will end up getting two points, which is not enough to prevent the Indian from making it to the quadrennial event.

Nethra, who has made it to Tokyo with a race to spare, said: "On the one side it's been a dream-come-true moment for me and on the other side, it's just one step/race tomorrow (Thursday) to  finish."

The 23-year-old of Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, said coaching under Hungarian coach Tamas Eszes for the last one-and-a-half years at Gran Canaria in Spain has proved to be invaluable. "In Grand Canaria, I trained with a lot of quality International sailors that helped me a lot," said the World Cup bronze medallist, the first Indian woman to do so.

The results (Indians):

49er: Men: 1. Varun Thakar & K.C. Ganapathy; Women: 4. Ekta Yadav & Ritika Dangi; laser radial: 1. Nethra Kumanan, 3. Ramya Saravanan, 5. Harshita Tomar; laser standard: 3. Vishnu Saravanan, 10. Upamanyu Dutta; Windsurfing: RS:X: Men: 6. Jerome Kumar, 7. Ebad Ali; RS:X: Women: 3. Ishwariya Ganesh.