New Delhi, May 5 (IANS): The preparation for Tokyo Olympics of sailors KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar could be delayed as they cannot travel to Portugal due to restrictions put in place for Indian travellers.

Both Ganapathy and Thakkar have qualified in the 49er category.

"Portugal is the right place to train as some of the top teams who have qualified for the Olympics are training there. We also have a plan to train with them to become better. But due to Covid-19 situation in India we aren't able to travel immediately. We have to wait for the right opportunity," Ganapathy said on Wednesday.

During an online media interaction, Ganapathy said he was hopeful that the Covid-19 situation will improve in the coming days and he will be able to go to Portugal.

"We will try our best to go to Portugal. We aren't taking our boats but plan to hire during our training stint in Portugal," added Thakkar.

In case the Portugal plan doesn't happen, then the duo will go to Rameswaram in southern India for training.

"We trained in Rameswaram during the lockdown in 2020. We stayed in a small village. There is no distraction. We enjoyed our training. But the first choice will be Portugal," added Thakkar.

The sailors have been training together for the past decade and are hopeful their chemistry would be productive during the Tokyo Olympics starting July 23.

"We have been consistent over the past 3-4 years and yielded good results. We won bronze medal at the Jakarta Asian Games. We also won the Olympic quota place last month in Oman. Good results in recent times give us confidence to do well at the Olympics, which is a different level of competition," said Ganapathy.

According to Ganapathy, competitive sailing is quite different from recreational weekend sailing.

"To prepare for top continental events or Olympics, it takes a minimum of 9 to 10 hours a day of practice including gym training for an hour. We have worked hard and we expect good results in Japan," added Ganapathy.