It may not be a mainstream sport in India but for Vishnu Saravanan sailing has been his life. A self-confessed allrounder who loved and excelled in a host of sports when growing up, Vishnu took a shine to sailing when his father, himself a former national-level sailor, introduced him to the sport and he did not look back.
The result of his dedication and love for the craft which he often refers to as playing “chess on water”, is that at the upcoming Paris Games, he will become just the second Indian sailor to have represented his country in multiple Olympics. His first brush with the Summer Games was in Tokyo where he finished 20th in a field of 35.
The 25-year-old won his first national championship in 2018 and went on to win a bronze in 2019 at the Laser Under-21 World Championships. At the Asian Sailing Championships in 2022, he clinched the gold and last year he won Asiad bronze in China.
Vishnu, who started sailing at the age of nine, booked his berth for Paris 2024 by finishing 26th in a field of 152 at the world championship earlier this year showing how far he has come and his next aim is to create more history in Marseille – the sailing venue of Paris Olympics.
In an exclusive chat felicitated by Dream Sports Foundation, the sailing star opens up on his Olympic dream, his childhood, impact of his father and how the sport can be promoted in India.
EXCERPTS
Vishnu, Tokyo was your first brush with the Olympics and Paris is your second. Compared to last time, how has your outlook changed and consequently the impact of it on your preparations?
Tokyo was my first Olympics. It was very special and it was very nice to have that experience at a young age, and definitely now I have (gained) more experience in the past three years. It has been a short campaign compared to normal four-year cycle (From Tokyo to Paris). So we had to work much harder in such short period and it kind of helped me in general to boost my morale and everything. It was a good experience in this way, like for the past year I’ve been performing very well, doing my PRs, like finishing in top 10s in the world, which is very good for myself and also never been done before in India. So it was very nice to achieve those numbers.
I’m just taking experience into this Olympics, which I’m looking forward to and playing it more tactically and also I’m in my best physical shape. I’m looking forward to how things work out.
The conditions in Marseille are going to be a big challenge. How do you plan to deal with that?
Yeah, so I’ve been here two months before I was in Hyères, which is a hundred kilometers away from here. So there was a World Cup there where I finished 11th and after that I drove here straight away on April 28th and I stayed here until July 4th. So all those period we were training in Marseille – the Olympic location for sailing. So we’ve been here for I think more than two months and learning about the venue, sailing in different places and just knowing about the whole area, basically mapping it out. Also enjoying while the Mediterranean is getting warm, swimming sometimes. So just to have the refreshing enjoyment and just to have that collective thoughts of the whole process.
So yeah, that’s been the whole process and it’s the routine was the most important, staying in one place, doing the fitness, doing sailing, training and coming back, eating healthy. So that’s the main goal and that’s what we achieved in the past two months. That was the target – like staying in one place and just doing the same thing to gain the mass, and gain the experience out of it and it helped me a lot. After that, I went to Garda, which is in Italy, which is 700 kilometers away from here. So we went there for 10 days just to have a change of venue because can’t be in one venue for too long because then the mind gets fried. And so that’s why I went there and we went there and then we trained there for 10 days. One of the most beautiful places, so just to have that mind set up, to have that nature close to you and prepare yourself mentally as well. So that’s a perfect ground to train your mental abilities and strengthen yourself in that area as well. So the physical part was done in Marseille and the mental part was done in Italy. I’m back in Marseille now for a few days before I enter the Olympic village. So yeah, so far so good.
You have often talked about how your father got you into sailing. As a kid, was there anything else that you were interested in apart from obviously sailing, any other sport?
Actually, I was into all the sports. My dad was also a big sportsman he’s a fan of all the sports as well. But always in the back of my mind, sailing was the main kind of mainstream sport, but I was almost getting into football as well. And then I was in football teams. Then I went to national in javelin. So I was a bit of an all-rounder doing all the sports. I was playing table tennis, tennis, everything.
So my routine was quite hectic because when I was younger, I was going early morning for athletics and then a bit of football and then studies, school. After finishing school at two, I go sailing until five. Then I had football until seven followed by tennis until nine. So my mother was not happy because I was always coming late for dinner. I was always into sports. I was never an academic kid, but I was more into just outdoors, which helped me because of playing other sports, I’m very agile and I’m very hand-eye-coordinated. So, I can learn new sports quick, which really helped me in an early stage.
Vishnu, obviously, like in your case, your father has been your guide into sailing. But for someone in India who has no link with sailing and wants to get into this sport. How do they go about it?
That’s a good question. Sailing is not very accessible (in India), everybody knows that. In the future, I hope it is. And the easiest way to make that happen is to teach them (aspirants) in school. Because if we are not taught about football in school, or if we are not given football in school, we wouldn’t be playing football. So it’s the same way sailing. Nobody has ever been taught about sailing or any of that. There’re so many sports we don’t learn about. It’s not just sailing. I think, in general, we should know about a wide variety of sport, because it’s not just a particular set of sports we have to excel in. We have 1.3 billion people, we can excel in all the sports. If we even can perform a little bit in all the sports, we are already boosting the whole nation. Physically, also, the younger generation will be much more healthier. The routine and the whole culture will change from just being a couch potato or watching TV all day. It’ll be a more active culture. And it then slowly grows over a period and you never know – we might be the healthiest country in the world at some point with having Indian curries, all the spices.
I think the main thing is to teach them (kids) in school and to have that accessibility there. It doesn’t matter if you are not close to the sea, you can have a lake or a pond even just to try them out. So the government can buy equipment, which doesn’t cost as much – It’s around Rs 2 or 3 lakh worth – it’s an investment towards another 10 years, you don’t have to get another set of equipment and you can just let the kids try sailing.
It doesn’t matter if they want to become sailors or not. It’s about them overcoming new challenges, like the fear of water and getting to know about a different thing. It’s like riding a horse, basically. So it kind of opens your mind as a kid as well. It’s quite important, I think, to have this in schools, which will help grow as a person and also as a sportsman if they want to continue.
Right now, where we are, if people want to go into sailing, there’s only two or three options, which is basically joining defence, like what I did. So defence as a navy or army have clubs all over India, like for young boys or girls. So that’s how I joined in as well. Like I kind of made through the Madras engineer boy sports. I was the first cadet. So that kind of opened the gate for many younger Bangalore kids or wherever they are coming from. So there are many young talents coming from there. It was really nice and really thoughtful of the senior officers who thought about that. I think it’s just the approach to these things. Like it’s quite difficult, but at the same time, it’s possible.
How has being in army helped you in pursuing your dream?
Well, my dad was in the army and in the army yachting node, which is in Mumbai. When we moved to Mumbai, he let me try out sailing. That’s how I kind of got into sailing. So yes, army has been a big part of my life and they’ve been supporting me ever since I was a kid. I’m very grateful for them.
But the thing for the younger kids to join is it’s also a good job security, because that’s one thing out of your mind – every month you get the salary. So your parents are happy and you get to do what you like, let’s say sailing in this case.
So it’s good. And how you can join is there is this boy sports, which picks you up when you’re 12 or 13. So you just have to go for the selections. Normally it happens around November and then January. And if you get selected, they check your height, weight, abilities – physical and mental – and then you get selected. And you just start sailing and you study meanwhile in the school as well. And when you turn 17-18, with your merits, you can join the army or navy. So it’s a good system overall. That’s how it works, basically.
So we have to talk about the Asian Games Bronze medal. How was that experience and the reception when you returned home?
Asian Games was good because it was my first time there. I’ve been trying since I was 10 years old. 2010 was my first tryouts for Asian Games. I didn’t succeed. Then 2014, I didn’t go. My sister went and am very happy about that. And then 2018, I didn’t go, which was really hurtful because I almost could have made it to top five. Still, it was not the medal potential at that time. So it was not good enough.
So my first Asian Games was China and I was really looking forward to it. And looking forward to not being cancelled as well because of the covid. So I was really motivated to perform and I was really hungry for the gold medal. And I was up there for sure because I was the fastest during that period.
And it was a really good performance from my side. Just a few mistakes because I was not experienced enough at that stage. The small fleet but it came out well with the overall experience and I really learned a lot. And the guys who beat me as well, they’re good friends with me. But on water, we are like cutting each other’s throat. I came up with a bronze medal. I’m happy for that. And now I have to work harder for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan. I’m looking forward to getting gold for sure.
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