Medal sweep for TNSA sailors at the ASAF Youth Sailing Cup

ASAF Youth Sailing Club Finals prize giving © Sucharita Kamath

ASAF Youth Sailing Club Finals prize giving © Sucharita Kamath

Medal sweep for TNSA sailors at the Asian Sailing Federation Youth Sailing Cup 2014-15

The final leg of the Asian Sailing Federation (ASAF) Youth Sailing Cup 2014-15 in the Optimist, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7 and RS one windsurfer classes just concluded with the final leg in Abu Dhabi. The previous legs were the India International Regatta, the Hong Kong Race Week and the Singapore Sailing Championships.

Day 1 of racing, on the 8th, saw low winds around 6 knots, day 2 saw only one race conducted for a majority of the fleets and day three saw winds averaging 8-10 knots only in the afternoon. The race committee was forced to have a long day of racing on day 3 to catch up on lost races. This meant that the sailors with mental and physical endurance would be the ones to come out on top. The Malaysian team has managed to stay at the top of things in Abu Dhabi followed closely by Chitresh Thatha of the Tamilnadu Sailing Association (TNSA).

The top honours in the ASAF Youth Cup, run across 4 events, was fought out between Chitresh and another TNSA sailor Aniketh Rajaram who had managed to pip Chitresh in the previous leg in Hong Kong while being the top placed Asian sailor in the India International Regatta 2014. Here in Abu Dhabi the tables were turned and Aniketh was pushed to second spot in the ASAF Cup standings with Chitresh sailing with the consistency and grit. Naveen Kumanan, again of the TNSA, pulled out all stops in the final medal race to finish third in the medal race and win bronze in the ASAF Youth cup.

In the Laser Radial Class, the fight was even tighter between Nethra Kumanan of the TNSA and Riley Cameron of Hong Kong who were tied on points. On the back of her Israel Youth championship, Nethra managed hold off Riley to win the top spot in the class.

The Nations Cup was won by Hong Kong who put on a strong all round showing walking away with three Gold, three Silver and three Bronze medals, followed by India who picked up two Golds, one Silver and two Bronze medals, whilst Malaysia won a Silver and Bronze in the ASAF Youth Sailing Cup 2014 – 15 Series.

The ASAF also announced the four Regattas that will constitute the ASAF Youth Sailing Cup Series for the year 2015 – 16. Details can be found on www.asafevents.org