The Hindu : Rajesh, Sandeep Srikant take titles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Sailing

Rajesh, Sandeep Srikant take titles

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD AUG. 17. Sandeep Srikant of Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC) Chennai and Rajesh Choudhary of Army Yachting Node (AYN) Mumbai bagged the titles in the Standard Class and Radial Class respectively in the Laser National sailing championship, sponsored by Prashant Sai Builders and Shreya Garments, which concluded at the Hussainsagar lake here on Saturday.

The final race in the Standard Class was all important for Sandeep Srikant and Arjun Pradipak of Secunderabad Sailing Club who were both in contention for the championship.

Srikant had his strategy planned out from the beginning and he decided to cover Arjun throughout the race with all the legal means at his disposal. He succeeded in doing so and managed to push Arjun out of the reckoning. Arjun who finished sixth lodged a protest against Sandeep for unfair conduct but it was overruled.

Since Sandeep and Arjun finished with 16 penalty points, the tie had to be broken by taking into account which sailor had better placings in the ten races that were conducted.

In the first instance again both were equal with four victories each. So the second criterion for splitting the tie was taken up. Here Sandeep had one second place finish while Arjun had none. So Sandeep was declared winner of the title.

In the Radial Class, Rajesh Choudhary emerged a winner by a big margin. The former EMESA sailor, a gold medallist in the last Asia Pacific regatta and now with the AYN has the technique, determination and motivation to come up with a medal in the Asian Games according to many experts here.

Nisha Shenai of Secunderabad Sailing Club emerged as the best woman sailor while Taruna Vazirani also of SSC was runner-up.

Lt. Gen. R.K. Mehta, AVSM, VSM, President of the LCAI gave away the prizes.

The championship was smoothly conducted and most participants had a word of praise for the arrangements made by the LCAI. The event managers Arc Lights chipped in to ensure there was no hitch.

Lt. Col. Sahni, Secretary LCAI read a report on the championship and also proposed a vote of thanks.

The results (10th race):

Standard Class: 1. D.P. Selvam (AYN). 2. Ram Kumar (AYN). 3. V. Harihara (AYN).

Radial Class: Rajesh Choudhary (AYN). 2. P.Madhu (AYN). 3. D. Boorugu (SSC).

Overall placings:

Standard Class: 1. Sandeep Srikant (RMYC) 16 penalty points. 2. Arjun Pradipak (SSC) 16 pts. 3. Ram Kumar (AYN) 20 pts. 4. D.P. Selvam (AYN) 26 pts. 5. V.Harihara (AYN) 30 pts.

Radial Class: 1. Rajesh Choudhary (AYN) 9 pts. 2. Sandeep Kapur (AYN) 17 pts. 3. Amit Arvind (NSC) 21 pts. 4. P.Madhu (AYN) 27 pts. 5. D.Boorogu (SSC) 35 pts.

Women: 1. Nisha Shenai (SSC) 18 pts. 2. Taruna Vazirani (SSC) 28 pts.

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