CHENNAI: R emember the exhilarating chase sequence featuring Sebastien Foucan and Daniel Craig in Casino Royale? Marking Craig's debut as 007, the death-defying crane jump is regarded by many as the best Bond stunt ever. He chases the bad guy into a building site and battles him on a crane 200 feet from the ground. The rigorous training method the duo followed to get things right in front of camera included Parkour, a non-combative martial art.
In Chennai, a 13-year-old sailor does Parkour as part of her training routine. It has given good results, as medals from recent international regattas testify. “I start my day with basic exercises. That's when we do Parkour,” says Nithya Balachander, gold winner in the Sail Qatar 2016 international sailing championship. Her entry into sailing was interesting. Classifieds and ads are two departments of the newspaper that grownups keep an eye on. Her father Balachander's habit of scanning those was the reason Nithya took up sailing. “In 2007, a summer camp ad caught my dad's attention. He joined that year, and my brother followed. By 2012, most of my family members were into sailing,” laughs Nithya.
With travelling and back-to-back tournaments, the energetic seafarer has been robbed of a normal school life. But that hasn't bothered her much. “The sailing club is my school.
I have friends there who are into the sport like me. I like it more because we have common topics to discuss. Sailing was always going to get preference over academics. My parents want me to get good scores in exams, but they are equally happy with my progress in sailing,” added the silver medallist in the Kuwait International Regatta.
Being part of the TN Sailing Association, Nithya learned basics from Lingesh and KC Ganapathy, who have won many laurels at the national and international levels. Training from 9 am to 6 pm, her free time is limited. “I get to relax only on Thursdays.
I don't go for training and mostly spend time reading about sports. Books by sports medicine specialists like Roald Bahr keeps me updated on my fitness levels. It also improves stability,” she smiles.