The Hindu : Two more wins come Madhu's way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 07, 2003

Sport

Sport - Sailing

Two more wins come Madhu's way

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Rajesh Kumar of ENESA (Laser radial rig class) makes a desperate attempt to prevent his sail touching the marker during the National sailing championship at the Hussainsagar Lake in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD AUG 6. P. Madhu of AYN chalked up two more victories to remain unbeaten in the first four races of the Radial rig category in the Laser National sailing championship being conducted by the LCAI at the Hussainsagar Lake, here on Wednesday.

Rajesh Choudhary who is the favourite in the Standard rig category was beaten by Naresh Yadav of the Naval Sailing Club in the third race of the series. But Rajesh made up for it by winning the fourth race and with three wins so far, Rajesh still leads the overall rankings in this category.

The Radial races were held in the morning under heavy wind conditions of about 12 to 14 knots. In the first race, (which was the third of the series), the leading contestants got bogged down in the beginning. But Ashutosh Tripathi reached the first mark in the lead followed by Madhu and Salil Sabir, in that order.

But during the `run' P. Madhu took over the lead. After the `loop' it was Madhu, Tripathi and Salil, in that order and the trio retained their positions till the finish line.

In the fourth race of the series the Radial sailors again had to contend with difficult conditions. The wind speed was about 12 knots gusting to 14 knots. Madhu got off to a bad start, hemmed in by other boats. But he soon managed to extricate himself from the crowd and took up a clear position where he got the full advantage of the winds. This enabled him to get into the lead and thereafter he retained the upper hand all the way to the finish.

In the afternoon session, the standard fleet took to the waters under moderate wind conditions of four to eight knots. But the wind direction was shifting by as much as 30 degrees and that forced the organisers to change the course and the start was delayed by 20 minutes. But once they got underway, Naresh Yadav's experience helped him to judge the wind conditions correctly. He was the only sailor who took a hard left path while the entire fleet went right. Naresh's move paid off and he got a strong wind and took the lead right away. Thereafter he never relinquished his position and finished first.

In the fourth race V. Hari Hara, Venugopal and N.S. Johal, all from AYN, came up with good performances. At the first windward mark it was Hari Hara in the lead followed by Venugopal and Johal. Rajesh Choudhary was in fifth position and defending champion Sandeep Srikanth was eighth. But Sandeep made up a lot of ground to take the lead at the second mark followed by Hari Hara and Rajesh respectively.

But positions changed in the last leg. Rajesh and Johal went left and Hari Hara and Venugopal went right while Sandeep took the middle path. As it turned out, those who went left got the best winds and the decision enabled Rajesh to finish first followed by Johal. Sandeep was third.

Overall in the standard fleet Rajesh continues to be in the lead with five penalty points followed by Sandeep Srikanth who has 13.

The results: Laser Standard rig: third race: 1. Naresh Yadav (NSC) 45m 39s; 2. Rajesh Choudhary (AYN) 46m 01s; 3. Ram Kumar (AYN) 47m 19s; 4. Sandeep Srikanth (RMYC) 47m 48s; 5. V.Hari Hara (AYN) 47m 58s; 6. Vengugopal (AYN) 48m 11s.

Fourth race: 1. Rajesh Choudhary (AYN) 47m 45s; 2. N.S. Johal (AYN) 47m 56s; 3. Sandeep Srikanth (RMYC) 48m 06s; 4. Venugopal (AYN) 48m 12s; 5. S. Anirudh (SSC) 48m 24s; 6. V. Hari Hara (AYN) 48m 28s.

Laser Radial rig: third race: 1. P.Madhu (AYN) 40m 43s; 2. Ashutosh Tripathi (EMESA) 41m 10s; 3. Salil Sabir (GYA) 41m 43s; 4. Dinesh Boorugu (SSC) 42m 04s; 5. Dharmender Singh (CESC) 42m 20s; 6. Suresh Singh (CESC) 42m 22s.

Fourth race: 1. P.Madhu (AYN) 41m 43s; 2. Dinesh Boorugu (SSC) 42m 22s; 3. Salil Sabir (GYA) 42m 28s; 4. Ashutosh Tripathi (EMESA) 42 38s; 5. Puroshottam (EMESA) 42m 54s; 6. Dharmender Singh (CESC) 43m 03s.

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