Team India set to Leave for Sail the Gulf 2010

Team India all set to leave for Sail the Gulf 2010

18th Qatar International Regatta (Sail the Gulf) 2010 will be held from 16 – 20 February 2010 (ISAF Grade 3). More than 200 Sailors & Officials from 28 countries i.e. Algeria, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, CANADA, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tunis, UAE, UK and host Qatar have confirmed their entries for the event of the middle east. Team India is all set to leave to Doha tomorrow afternoon.

India has confirmed a team of 20 Sailors and Officials. Royal Madras yacht club sailors Ajay Rau, Zephra Currimbhoy and Vir Menon have confirmed their participation in the event.

In the radial/Optimist class’s Rajesh Choudhary and Upamanyu dutta from Mumbai will be leading the charge for Team India.

Chennai’s Ajay Rau is Rajesh Choudhary’s closest challenge for the lone Asian Games spot. Rajesh has a wealth of experience in the class having won a silver and bronze medal at the last two editions of the Asian Games, Ajay is yet to compete in an Asian games. Sail the Gulf is one of the many preparatory events for Team India leading to the 2010 Asian Games.

National Squad Announced

Sailing squads

CHENNAI: The selection trials for the National Sailing Squad for the year 2010 came to an end on January 24 in Mumbai and Chennai.The top 2 in the Radial class ( Rajesh/Ajay) have been selected to represent India at the upcoming Asian Sailing Championships to be held at China.This the last test event before the 2010 Asian Games which will be held at the same venue.

The squads (National):

Laser radial: Rajesh Choudhary, Ajay Rau, Jasvir Singh, Dharmender Singh, Rohini Rau, Gaurav Randhawa, Gajender Singh, B.K. Raut, Naveen Kumar, Ramesh Kumar.

Allan confident of Ajay, Rohini

CHENNAI: Sailor Allan Julie firmly believes in the adage ‘talk less, work more’.

The 32-year-old from Seychelles, who has taken part in four successive Olympics and 13 World championships, prefers to let his work do the talking.

Allan has taken Ajay Rau and Rohini Rau under his wings as the two are training hard for the selection trials of the Asian sailing championship (in Shanwei, China, from March 20 to 29) scheduled to be held from January 20 to 24 at the Chennai Harbour.

“Only two sailors can qualify from India. All the top teams from Army Yachting Node, Bhopal Sailing School and others are taking part in the trials held in two categories — laser radial and optimist class. It’ll be very tough but we are confident,” says Ajay and Rohini, the brother-sister duo.

A trail-blazer in his country, Allan is the only sportsperson from Seychelles to have achieved so much in any discipline. He received the best sportsman award from the Seychelles Government consecutively from 2000-2004.

Having trained and sailed with the best in the business, Allan is the best bet for the two, feels Ajay. “He is a thorough professional,” says Ajay.

Smiles Rohini: “I have never raced against my brother. So, it will be interesting to see how I fare (in laser radial).”

A freelance coach, as he likes to describe himself, Allan is one of the coaches at the famous Sail Coach, a facility in France where professional sailors from different parts of the world hone their skills.

Allan, who retired from active sailing after the Beijing Olympics, is not averse to coaching Indian sailors.

“If I get a good deal then I will consider,” says Allan, who at one point was ranked in the top 20 in the world.

Merit finishes 19th line honours out of 100

Merit secures 19th line honours out of 100 boats at the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart. In Division 1 , merit placed 5th .

Leo Rodriguez and crew held it together and were very close in creating a major upset in the overall line honours, when Merit was in 10 th place for a brief period of time during the race. 19th overall is an impressive result for the team. Last year the team won her Division after being granted redress for rescuing sinking Georgia. This year the teams were committed in finishing the race without interruption, but it was clear that if the team were to stumble across another distress signal during the race, merit wouldn’t think twice in leaving the race and going for a rescue again. The Rolex Sydney Hobart is considered the most grueling long ocean race in the world. The first Indian sailor to crew a Sydney Hobart and was part of the 18 member strong crew sailing on merit. ”Team work was the key and all of us made sure we did our jobs to the best of our abilities to make sure that we pushed the boat to the limit, I am fortunate that Leo Rodriguez gave me an opportunity to crew for merit. I am honored to have raced along side and against some of the best sailors in the world. It has been the best racing experience. I would definitely like to continue taking part in this special event”. The Indian Laser sailor added that “ India has not recognized this milestone as it knows little about the Rolex Sydney to Hobart and there isn’t much of a sailing culture in India, The Australian and global media have recognized this landmark and in the future will continue to recognize small milestones like these in the hope that India will eventually adopt the sport like its own. There is lot’s of promise for Sailing in India if the Indian sports industry adopts a marketing strategy similar to Indian cricket. One hopes that sailing will figure in India’s current sports boom. In a couple of years we might see an Indian entry at the Rolex Sydney Hobart.