Two Indian teams find themselves placed in third position in the men’s 49er and women’s 49er FX classes respectively after the opening day’s racing on Saturday in the 2021 Mussanah Open Sailing Championship, an Olympic qualifier for Asia and Africa, in the Gulf of Oman off the Millennium Resort in Mussanah, 130km from Muscat. The regatta is scheduled to end on Thursday.
The Indian 49er team of KC Ganapathy (helm) and Varun Thakkar (crew) has its task cut out as it trails the two Chinese teams of Zhou Zhibo and Hong Wei (7 points), and Wang Xi and Chao Xiang (11th) in the third place after the three races on the opening day. It will draw from the third place finish in the third race after a disastrous 10th in the second race.
A win in the third race in the women’s 49er FX class helped India’s Ekta Yadav and Ritika Dangi (8 points) stay on the heels of China’s Ye Jin and Chen Shasha (5) and Thailand’s Kamonchanok Klahan and Nichapa Waiwai (6). The three boats won a race each, but the Indians were hurt when Molly Highfield and Sandy Wing Chi Choi (Hong Kong) took third place in the second race.
Harshita Tomar (7 points from two races) is lying in the third place behind two South Korean Kim Da Jeong (5) and Hyewon Jung (6) but she will be mindful of the fact the third Korean, Kim Jia won the second race to close the gap. Ramya Saravanan (9) and Nethra Kumanan (10) will be hoping for an improved showing when the racing resumes on Sunday.
Having started with a third place finish in the opening race in the Laser Standard class, Vishnu Saravanan conceded plenty of ground when he came home 11th in the second race to be seventh overall. Upamanyu Dutta’s two sixth-place showings left him in the fifth spot, but the Indian teams have a stiff battle against China’s Jiannan Wu, Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Jangazov and others.
Two Asian boats each in the two Laser classes – Laser Standard (men) and Laser Radial (women) – will qualify for the Olympic Games while the other four classes will send one Asian boat each. Thus far, 312 athletes (223 boats) from 59 National Olympic Committees have qualified for the Olympic Games regatta to be held in Enoshima Yacht Harbour from July 25 to August 4.
First day’s results (Indians only)
Laser (21 entries): 5. Upamanyu Dutta 14 points (Sixth and Sixth); 7. Vishnu Saravanan 14 (Third and 11th); 12. Mohit Saini 23 (14th and Ninth); 14. Ram Milan Yadav 29 (12th and 14th); 15. Gitesh 32 (13th and 19th).
Laser Radial (12 entries): 3. Harshita Tomar 7 points (Fourth and Third); 5. Ramya Srinivasan 9 (Fifth and Fourth); 6. Nethra Kumanan 10 (Second and Eighth); 12. Jayalakshmi Sundaravadivel 23 (12th and 11th).
49er (14 entries): 4. Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy 18 points (Fifth, 10th and Third); 11. Prince Manu Francis and Kurisinkar Noble 26 points (Second, 11th and 13th); 12. Munna Pandit and Sandip Jain (12th, 13th and Fourth).
49er FX (7 entries): 3. Ritika Dangi and Ekta Yadav 8 points (Third, Fourth and First).
RS:X (Men) (13 entries): 5. Ebad Ali 10 points (Third and Seventh); 11. Jerome Kumar Savarimuthu 20 (11th and Ninth).
RS: X (Women) (3 entries): 3. Ishwarya Ganesh 5 points (Second and Third).
Image: Ekta Yadav and Ritika Dangi’s 49er FX (Photo courtesy: The Hitavada newspaper).
