Tamil Nadu Sailing Association’s wards made India proud in the recently concluded International Sailing Regatta in Doha.
In the Optmist class, the Indian team of Vishnu Sujeesh Areekara, Mahesh Balachander, Aniketh Rajaram, Naveen Kumanan and Venkat Krishna Karumanchi, all from TNSA, fought off the favourites, Norway, to win the gold in the team racing championship. In Optimist fleet racing, India claimed gold and bronze. Vishnu Saravanan from CESC Pune won the gold, while TNSA’s Mahesh Balachander won bronze. In a fleet of 38, six of the seven Indian sailors, all but one from TNSA, finished among the top 12, while one finished at 18th.
The two top Indian teams, both from TNSA, KC Ganapathy/Varun Thakkar and Varsha Gautham/ Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan won gold and silver beating Norway, which had swept all three top positions at “Sail the Gulf” in the last two years, in the 29er segment. Ganapathy and Varun, who won the gold, came to Doha fresh from the 29er Eurocup #1 for the year 2013, held near Barcelona, Spain, where they finished seventh in the open category.
Besides, AYN sailors Gajender and Dharmender won silver and bronze in the Laser Standard, while Ayaz Shaikh and Sandip Jain won the silver in 470, taking India’s medal tally to a never-before eight in a single event.