CHENNAI: On the evening of March 7, KC Ganapathy had just finished training in the calm waters of Abu Dhabi and eased his racing equipment — a 49er class boat — off the water. Varun Thakkar, his racing partner, and he were eight days away from one of their more crucial events, an Olympic qualifier. Minutes after their training session, the local government got in touch with the organisers to put everything into lockdown. “We were just asked to leave by that night actually,” Ganapathy said. It’s been more than 100 days (115 to be exact) since then.
“I still remember it vividly because that was the last time I practised with my boat.” Because of the pandemic, Ganapathy and Thakkar’s race equipment is still in Abu Dhabi. After he got back to Chennai, he went back to Mumbai — where the training base is located — for a few days. As the country went into lockdown, the 2018 Asian Games bronze medal winner got back to the city for what he thought would be a small break. Little did he know that he would still be in Chennai three months later. That, however, is just one part of the problem for the 24-yearold.
Even as athletes of almost every other discipline have gotten reacquainted with their craft, the Chennai sailor has been reduced to writing letters to the transportation company responsible for bringing his training equipment, including a fully functional 49er boat, from Mumbai to Chennai. “Because our base shifted to Mumbai last year, all my equipment is there. Thanks to the lockdown, I have not been able to bring it back. You can probably say it’s not really an essential equipment so I am not sure if they will allow me to bring it here. Also, Tamil Nadu’s borders are closed.
I have constantly been writing to the transportation company about the difficulty in bringing the equipment here.” If he had his boat, he could have had a small window of opportunity to train at Palavakkam beach. Sans, he has been left to training with basic gym apparatus at home apart from visualisation techniques. “All I can do now is lift some weights apart from visualise. That’s what Varun also does because both of us practise on the same boat. Visualisation includes me steering the boat (he is the helm), with Varun being the crew.” He’s also opted to familiarise himself with sailing literature.
Has he considered the prospect of going to Mumbai to restart training? “Why will I needlessly risk my health! There is no point. I am going to be here for the time being.” Looking at the way coronavirus curve is heading, he could be here for a while.