India recorded one of its best performances in sailing at the Asian Games 2023. It clinched one silver and two bronze medals and registered four fourth-place finishes. For Neha Thakur, Eabad Ali, and Vishnu Saravanan, the three who ascended the podium, the wind in their sails was a coach from Kerala, P Madhu.
The 50-year-old Payyanur native and former national sailing champion had trained the medal winners during various stages of his career. For the Games, Madhu was the dedicated coach for the ILCA4 category - for boys and girls. Silver medallist Neha, of Bhopal, and Malayali team member Adhvait Menon were under his direct mentorship.
Weathering Storms
While Madhu’s credentials might hint at a Navy background, the truth surprises. He was an officer in the engineering division of the Indian Army. He retired as a subedar major in 2019 but was later promoted as an honorary lieutenant for his sporting achievements. Part of what prompted Madhu to don the uniform was the lack of electricity in his village!
“I belong to an agricultural family on the outskirts of Payyanur. We didn’t have electricity for over 15 years. We studied under the light of an oil lamp,” he recalls. “Somewhere, I got to know that military officers were given free power connections. That was the first motivation to join the Army.” As an ITI graduate, career options were limited where he grew up. “A career in the Armed Forces was an attractive proposition – a chance to make something of oneself. It’s, after all, a big honour to serve the nation,” he adds.
For his proficiency in sailing, he credits “a childhood spent amidst ponds, lakes and rivers”. Naturally, the love for the waters was innate. This interest, his inherent discipline and an unyielding determination to prove his worth saw him secure a place in the Army’s sailing team after he was commissioned in 1994.
“I participated in the Army’s tournaments and also represented Andhra Pradesh (where I was then posted) in the national championship. In 2000, I won silver at the national level in sailing,” Madhu recalls with pride.
One would presume that given the state’s intricate network of waterways and rivers, Kerala would dominate the country’s sailing contests. Sadly, for over a decade, Madhu was its sole representation on national and international stages. The years 2000-06 were his most successful as a sailor. During this time, Madhu bagged 18 national medals, including six golds. Reminiscing about those days, Former Navy officer Commander Abhilash Tomy (retd) recalls Madhu’s unmatched prowess. “We used to be competitors. We sailed laser boats back then, and he was always ahead of me,” says the celebrated circumnavigator.
Madhu’s reputation as a sailor helped him segue into an instructor’s role when the first national sailing school opened its doors in Bhopal in 2006. For six years, he sculpted a unique sailing culture that remains unparalleled in India even today.
Thermocol Rafts
Notably, during that time, Madhu invited two lads from Cherai to undergo training at the National Sailing School. “I was in Cherai for the nationals in the late 2000s. I saw two boys from the fisherfolk community, navigating the waters on top of a raft made of thermocol,” he recalls.
“I was intrigued. I spoke to their families and managed to get them enrolled for training.” In 2012, the two boys – Prince Noble and Manu Francis – secured places in the Indian youth national team for the Asian Sailing Championship held in Malaysia. Under Madhu’s tutelage, Prince had won the overall bronze in the 26th Laser 4.7 national championship held in Secunderabad prior to the championship.
Prince and Manu are now Army officers and owe much of their success to Madhu. The Army later sought his expertise to ramp up operations at its yachting node in Hyderabad. “I served there for three years, until 2014. Subsequently, I was posted at the National Sailing School again on the recommendation of the Madhya Pradesh government, as the school’s performance had started to dip,” Madhu adds.
This second stint, as successful as the first, lasted until his retirement in February 2019 from the sailing school. “Hand him ten students, and he will hand you back ten champions,” a senior naval officer exclaimed when Madhu’s name came up during a recent Navy event in Goa. This reputation is not just confined to India, as prospective sailors from as distant as Hong Kong and Sri Lanka have been arriving in the country to train under this Malayali coach. In fact, he has got invites for both destinations.
Yet, amid all the accolades, Madhu harbours a dream close to his roots: propelling a Keralite to the podium at the Asian Games. This is part of the reason why Madhu moved back to Kerala. “My ultimate aim is to build a sailing ecosystem in Kerala that can produce future champions,” he smiles. “With adequate government backing, we can rise to dominate the seas.”