~ The 14-year-old, one of India's youngest athletes at the Youth Olympic Games, finished sixth, crediting her father's three-word mantra: "Don't give up."
"VAN" (Sports Desk - 13.11.2026) :: Indian windsurfer Priyanshi Patil isn't letting age stop her from dreaming big.
At 14, she's one of India's youngest athletes competing this week at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. On Thursday (12 November), she finished sixth overall after 14 races, with Italy's Laura Grasso Castagnetta, Spain's Olivia Sanchez and the People's Republic of China's Wu Ziyan grabbing gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
"Age doesn't matter to dream big," Patil told afterwards. "Just go and sail, just use your brain and play. I don't believe in ages [holding you back]. I enjoy these races."
Patil is a newcomer in the sport, having only started to train in it some two years ago when she got her start in December 2024. Her brother, she says, pushed her to try the sport.
That wasn't an easy task: Patil was afraid of the very venue in which she'd find herself competing on a global stage just months later.
"I was really scared of the water, and the rocks which I see down there," she recalled. "I really hated the beach. But after coming to windsurfing, I really like this water, I like the sand, I like all the things."
Cr-Olympics
Responses
Leave your comment