New Delhi, March 12 (HS). Indian Olympian sailor Vishnu Saravanan, who has already secured a quota place for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games, won the gold medal in the Men's One-Person Dinghy (ILCA7) category at the Europa Cup 2024 sailing meet held in Majorca, Spain on Monday Is.
Saravanan, who represented the country at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and finished 20th, topped the race of 91 participants with 17 points. Willem Wiersema of the Netherlands also scored the same points but Saravanan won the category on technical grounds.
Australia's Lawson McAuley won the bronze medal with 22 net points in the event organized by Real Club Nautique Port de Polenca.
Saravanan finished first in two of his seven races at the meet. In an Olympic year, this year's Europa Cup saw huge crowds, with 334 sailors competing in challenging conditions with wind speeds ranging from 15 to 30 knots during the three-day competition.
In January this year, Saravanan became the first Indian to secure a sailing quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics when he did so at the ILCA7 Men's World Championship 2024 in Australia this January.
Saravanan had also won a bronze medal in the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
The ILCA7 is a category within the International Laser Class Association sailing class. The Laser Standard is a small, light boat with a single mast.