(Written By K. Kumaraswamy from The Telegraph - Calcutta, India - Click here to go to The Telegraph story)

Mumbai: What do Pallavi Naik, a sales and marketing executive, Rohini Rau, a medical graduate student, Alekhya Sudam, an engineering student, and Tulsi Chauhan, a mother of two, all have in common?

Well, these are the four women who will represent India in the Nations Cup World Finals of match racing sailing to be held in Brazil in March 2009.

The quartet are competing in the Asian Final, a qualifying event for the region that kicked off at the Chowpatty beach here on Wednesday, but have already booked their berth as the lone Indian team after beating compatriots Ayesha Lobo, Tara Mati, Damini Sood and Dhanya Pillo — who will also be competing in the event — in a selection trial earlier.

Pallavi and Co. are the first women’s team from India to have qualified for the World Finals.

“We are thrilled. We are using this event (Asian Final) more for exposure. We are looking to compete in at least four more events, in Japan, in Europe and the US before going to Brazil,” 23-year-old Pallavi, the skipper of the team, told The Telegraph.

Goan Pallavi and Chennai-based Rohini are the senior members of the team, the two having won the Asian Championships gold in the double-hander class as way back as in 2004.

Tulsi, married to fellow sailor Sanjeev, and Alekhya, from Hyderabad, might lack the experience but there will be no shortage of passion.

Besides Brazil, the girls have set themselves long-term goals, of winning medals at the 2010 Asian Games and the 2012 London Olympics.

It will be the first time that women’s match racing will be included in the Asiad and the Olympic programme.

Part of the team’s confidence stems from the fact that there are not too many countries in Asia where there are strong women’s sailing teams.

“We have started before the other countries wake up and make their plans. So we have a head start,” Rohini, 20, said.

Match racing is a sailing form that is gaining in popularity fast.

Unlike fleet racing where all competitors start a race together, match racing involves two boats going up against each other in one race. The race itself lasts about 20-25 minutes, whereas fleet racing could go up to more than an hour.

And, being held near the shores (in fleet racing, sailors go further in), it is, not surprisingly, a spectator friendly sport.

“It is the T20 of sailing,” Pallavi said with a grin.

But like in any other sport in India, the women have had to break a variety of barriers.

Lack of sponsorship and awareness are the most obvious ones, but there are also parental restrictions and women’s own inhibitions.

“My mom and grandma were always worried about me being alone in a boat. I am talking about when I started at the age of 10,” Pallavi, who has taken a break from work to focus on sailing, said.

“Being out in the sun and in the sea for hours is going to rob your skin of a lot of colour,” Rohini said. “It is different for a European who wants to get tanned, but our women want to look fair.”

One wishes that for the sake of Indian sailing that Pallavi and Co. succeed.