Date:11/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/11/stories/2009011155951600.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Good show by Ajay Rau

CHENNAI: Royal Madras Yacht Club’s Ajay Rau capped a consistent performance to finish 14th overall out of 80 sailors at the just concluded Australian Championships. Ajay qualified to race in the Gold fleet for the first time in his career — a major step for this young sailor.

The championship, held at the state of the art venue off Freemantle (Perth), offered different conditions with wind speeds ranging between 3 to 30 + knots. Freemantle will stage the 2011 ISAF World Championships which is one of the two Olympic qualifiers for the 2012 Games.

Ajay’s performance came in the midst of sailors from Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, Canada, Singapore and Japan and is a big boost for the Indian who is aspiring to help his country qualify for the Olympics for the first time in the laser class.

His next event is the ISAF Grade 1 Asia Pacific (Perth) which starts on Monday.