Olympics 2021 Sailing LIVE updates: Indians KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakker finish 14th in Race 12 of 49ers

And that's a wrap for the sailing blog. Olympics 2021 has shown the potential in India for a sailing culture. "You guys have so much sea it is a pity most don't use them," legendary cricketer Jonty Rhodes once said at a surfing festival in Mangalore. The potential sailors are there. The perfect water is also there. Can these two combine, with government and private aid, to make a strong team for Paris 2024? Or will this be a false dawn for sailing in the country?
Only time will give us the answer. Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy can go back home with their heads held high. A commendable performance and a mark of things to come in the future! That is all for Sportskeeda's LIVE blog. But sure to catch our LIVE updates and commentary of PV Sindhu's semifinal match. Boxer Pooja Rani will be in action too and she can guarantee a medal if she wins her quarterfinal bout.
Bye

Final result of Race 12

1) Ireland
2) Netherlands
3) Croatia
4) Portugal
.
.
14) India

The race has come to an end and the India team can only salvage a 14th place finish!

This is an intense race and as it should be! To represent the country at the Olympic Games is the highest honour of athletes and the Indian duo has clearly helped the tri-coloured flag high. Will this performance from the Indian team spark a revolution in our costs though?

At the top Netherlands have overtaken Portugal to claim the third sport in Race 12

The current table. The Indians are not hot in pursuit of host nation Japan

MASSIVE! And the Indians have made a huge leap! The duo of Varun and Ganapathy has climbed to 11th on the leaderboard for Race 12 of the 49ers.

The leaderboard after Mark 1

1) Ireland
2) Netherlands
3) Croatia
4) Portugal

Not the strongest start for the Indians. Will now wait to see how they react in the upcoming marks. But currently, Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy are 14th.

Trivia: What is a 49er?

The 49er is a two-handed skiff-type high-performance sailing dinghy. The crew work on different roles with the helm making many tactical decisions, as well as the steering, and the crew doing most of the sail control. Both of the crew are equipped with their own trapeze and sailing is done while cantilevered over the water to the fullest extent to balance against the sails.

The Indian team of KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar are back in the water. Can they clinch a perfect time in Race 12?

Near perfect conditions in Fujisawa despite some upsetting weather predictions. Great day to be sailing!

And we are back in action again with the Men's 49er!

Read more about Tai Tzu-ying in our analysis story of PV Sindhu's semifinal opponent at the Tokyo Olympics.

Strengths and weaknesses of PV Sindhu’s semi-final opponent Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei

Race 12 will start soon at Fujisawa. But for Indian fans, the day is just getting interesting. PV Sindhu can clinch an Olympics medal if she wins her match the deceptive Tai Tzu-ying today. The match is scheduled to start at 3:30 PM IST

Indians KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakker finish 9th in Race 11 of 49ers

And that brings us to the end of the race! Despite a strong start the Indians could not cling on to the 5th position and finally had to settle for 9th. The 9th position is by no means a small achievement for the India duo who will learn a lot from this Olympics exposure. The Indian sailing team has had a great outing in Tokyo and with better international exposure could soon become medal prospects.

Here is the course diagram for Race 11 (Courtesy: Olympics)

Futher detials for the event as it comes to the final stages.

Indians Varun and Ganapathy have further dropped behind. Now they are in 8th place with Great Britain climbing above them. KC Ganapathy had said in an exclusive interview to Sportskeeda that he would be happy with an overall finish in the top 10. The Indians will have to keep pushing hard in race 11 to salvage a good result.

Leaderboard with the Indiam team now in 8th position

A reminder that KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakker are ranked 17th overall in the 49er event despite having a few strong finishes in the sailing event.

India's Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy were overtaken by the Denmark duo of Jonas Warrer and Jakob Precht

It is a close competition in Race 11 as the Indian dup drop from the 5th position to 6th.

Prior to 2020, India's representation at the Olympics was restricted to a single event per edition. However, this year's edition featured four Indian sailors: Nethra Kumanan (Laser Radial), Vishu Saravanan (Laser Standard class), and the pair of KC Ganapathy-Varun Thakkar (49er Class).

Read more about India's sailing team at Tokyo in this exclusive interview: