Jakarta : After three days of 15 knot winds on an average, Day 4 saw light winds varying from 5-7 knots and the last day was a washout for all classes but the Optimist and windsurfers due to the weather. This meant that the lighter sailors thrived, and the heavier ones finished with scores that they had neither thought of nor anticipated. However, this didn’t seem to bother the Indian team of Ganapathy & Varun Thakkar who have won the gold medal with 2 races to spare! A truly dominating performance at the same venue where the Asian Games are to be held – clearly announcing their intentions!
The 49er FX Indian girls Varsha Gautham & Sweta Shervegar,
Ekta Yadav & Shaila Charles also
did extremely well by placing in silver and bronze medal positions with just 1 point separating them but the Singaporean girls also had the gold in their pocket with 2 races to spare.
If weather had not changed so drastically it may have been that India would have had at least 2 more podium finishes in the Laser 4.7 and radial classes.
The Yachting Association of India, headed by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba has pulled out all stops in the recent past to ensure that the best were selected and thereafter trained extensively at overseas venues with the wholehearted support of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports(MYAS).
