Prince Noble and Manu Francis Win Men's Skiff Silver, India's First Sailing Silver at Asian Games 2026

India's sailors delivered a podium on Thursday morning at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, with Prince Kurisinkal Noble and Manu Francis taking silver in the men's skiff event. It is India's first silver medal in sailing at these Games.

The result came down to the final race of the series. The Indian pair went into it in fourth place overall, outside the medal positions, and needed a strong finish while the boats around them faltered. They produced exactly that, crossing the line second in the last race to climb two places on the overall leaderboard and finish with 23 net points.

China won the gold medal, and Hong Kong took bronze.

How a skiff series is decided

The men's skiff is a two-person, high-performance dinghy class, raced in the 49er boat at the Olympic level. Unlike a single final, the medals are decided across a series of races sailed over several days. Each finishing position counts as points, one for first, two for second and so on, and the lowest total wins. Sailors are usually allowed to discard their single worst result, which is why the final standings are given in net points.

That format rewards consistency over one-off brilliance. A crew that finishes near the front in most races can beat a faster boat that has one or two bad days. Noble and Francis built their total across the week, including a race win earlier in the series, and kept themselves within striking distance of the podium until the last start.

Building on a modest sailing record

India has never been a major sailing power at the Asian Games, where the sport has long been dominated by China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong. Medals have tended to come in ones and twos. The country's most recent success in this particular class came at the 2018 Games in Jakarta-Palembang, where Varun Thakkar and K C Ganapathy won bronze in the 49er.

A silver in the same discipline eight years later suggests the programme is moving forward rather than standing still, and it gives India a second generation of skiff sailors with a major international medal to their names.

A busy day for India

The sailing medal opened what promises to be one of India's most crowded days of the Games. India's men's cricket team is playing Sri Lanka in the semi-finals, with Pakistan already through to the gold-medal match after beating Bangladesh. The men's hockey team faces Pakistan in the semi-finals at 1 pm IST, and wrestlers are in action in several weight classes, with Nitesh Kumar already through to the 97kg Greco-Roman final.

India entered the day with 61 medals at the Games, including 10 golds, and the skiff silver adds to a tally that has been driven heavily by archery, shooting and athletics so far. For a sport that rarely features in India's medal conversation, Thursday's result is a welcome addition.

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