Yadavs sail away with two victories
The Indian pair of Naresh Yadav and G L Yadav won twice on Thursday, producing the
best result so far for the host nation, on the fourth day of
the Sandpiper Enterprise World Sailing championships in Bogmalo, Goa.
Naresh Yadav was obviously elated, but very modest about
his achievement - it is the first time he won a race
at a World championship.
"I got a good start and the wind shifts favoured me," he said.
Far less lucky were Aashim Mongia and R Mahesh. Coming in
third on the first beat in the seventh race, the pair got
involved in an incident with reigning World champions Richard
Estaugh and Peter Rowley, and had to do a 720-degree penalty
turn, losing around 18 positions in the process to finish
21st.
The first race saw an interesting ding-dong battle
between the Yadavs, Estaugh and Rowley, Shane Mccarthy and
Simon Cook (Irl), and Roger Gilbert and Alistair Fry (Gbr).
These four broke clear of the rest of the fleet, and each
of them were leading at some point in the race, but the Yadavs
got the better of the lot on the run and the final beat to
finish comfortably ahead.
Race VIII saw the Yadavs lead from the very start, with Mongia and Mahesh close on their heels. That was the way it stayed till the finish. There was a big surpise with Craig Burlton and Trudie Danburn (GBR) third (previous best postion 10th). McCarthy and Cook (IRL) came fourth, Mehul Ashar and Kulwant Singh fifth, Sanjeev Chauhan and Rajesh Dhulaji sixth (previous best 10th).
A very happy Burlton said the first beat did the trick for him, as the wind swung to the right.
Indian team coach Homi Motiwala said he was very happy with Yadav's feat. Asked whether an Indian pair still stood a chance for the title, he said that though Estaugh and Rowley are ahead by nine points in the overall standing, the championship is still wide open as two more races are to be sailed. Each team can discard their worst two results (only one discard has been calculated in the present standing).
''Shane and Yadav can still beat me,'' Estaugh said, indicating that he would have to take tomorrow's races seriously. Mc Carthy, though, felt he has only an outside chance to beat Estaugh. ''He'd have to sail badly and there's not much chance of that, seeing how he's sailed this week,'' he said.
Today's sailing saw six protests, the largest number in the championship on a single day so far. Until now, there has been one protest at most each day. As hearing on the protest will proceed late into the night, the outcome will be known only tomorrow morning. All the results therefore will be considered provisional.
Overall standing after the eight races (with one discard) are as follows:
1. Estaugh and Rowley (GBR) - 22 points 2. McCarthy and Cook (IRL) - 30 points 3. N Yadav and G Yadav (India) - 31 points 4. Craig and Upton Brown (GBR) -35 points 5. A.Mongia and Mahesh (India)- 36 points.
Earlier reports:
Day 1: Britain, India share honours on day one
Day 2: Indian sailors hog the limelight
Day 3: Mongia-Mahesh falter at the finish
