For the last few days, they had been trying to place as many hurdles as possible against each other. Boats were not shared, communication lines were down, information was not regularly transferred and each tried to sully the other’s name.
In the end, the bitterness between the Kerala Yachting Association and the Kerala Watersports and Sailing Organisation reached a new high on Sunday as the host State went unrepresented in the opening race of the National Games yachting competition at Cherai.
The KSWO’s Jolly Thomas, who had been brought in as the State coach for the Games by the Kerala State Sports Council, had been training a bunch of boys for the last few months in Kochi and Mumbai and had put up two college students, D. Anand and A.S. Akash, for the Laser Standard class competition, the lone yachting event at the Games.
But, that was not acceptable to the Kerala Yachting Association, which is affiliated to the Yachting Association of India as a State association (the KSWO is affiliated to the YAI as a sailing club). It brought two Cherai-born, Bengaluru-based Army sailors, Prince Noble and Manu Francis, who had better credentials, announced them as the State team for the Games and rejected Jolly’s claims.
However, Jolly’s trainees were granted accreditation for the yachting competition, while the accreditation process for the KYA entries got delayed.
“Akash and Anand have the accreditation cards, but no boats while Prince and Manu are standing there with boats, but no accreditation,” explained Captain Tribhuwan Jaiswal, the National Games yachting director of competition at the event’s headquarters Baywatch Hotel, about the host sailors’ strange situation.
But, the KYA, which got the boats from the Navy in Kochi, was not willing to offer them to the boys who had the accreditation.
“We would prefer our people to go in,” said George Loval, the KYA secretary.
Compromise formulaA little later, after the first race was run without a Kerala entry, a compromise formula was worked out and all four host sailors were allowed to compete after Prince and Manu were assured accreditation by the Games organising committee.
The duo competed in the second race of the 15-race event, where sailors are allowed to discard two race results, while KSWO’s Anand and Akash are waiting for their boats and expected to be in action on Monday.
That led to another strange situation. While every other State was allowed only one entry in yachting, host Kerala had four sailors in the fray!
The results: Race 1: 1. Muzahid Khan (Raj), 2. Sharif Khan (MP), 3. Jasvir Singh (Pun).
Race 2: 1. Kuldeep Kumar Pandey (UP), 2. Virender Singh (Chd), 3. Jasvir Singh (Pun).
Race 3: 1. B.K. Rout (Mpr), 2. Gaurav Randhawa (Del), 3. Muzahid Khan (3).
Placings after 3 races: 1. Muzahid Khan (8 pts), 2. B.K. Rout (13), 3. Jasvir Singh (13).
