India bagged their first-ever medal in women's sailing competition as Varsha Gautam and crew Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan (in photo) won a bronze in the 29er Women's Two Person Dinghy event here on Tuesday.
Sixteen-year-old Varsha and 18-year-old Aishwarya won the 11th and penultimate race and then finished second in the final race to log 25.0 net penalty points, four behind silver medal winners Rui Xi Priscilla low and Rui Qi Cecilia low of Singapore at the Wangsan Sailing Marina here. The gold went to Thai duo of N Poonpat and N Waiwai (19.0 net penalty). A pleased team manager K D Singh said: "Varsha is just 16. This is the first ever medal for India in women’s sailing at the Asian Games. I am very happy for them. The winds were not good initially and the races got postponed, but later the conditions were good for sailing”.