Shekhar Singh Yadav of INWTC Mumbai won the sixth and seventh races of the Radial fleet, keeping at bay tough competitors from the AYN and CESC, in the 26th National Laser sailing championships at the Hussainsagar lake here on Thursday.
The sixth race saw 47 boats take the start under wind speeds of about eight to 12 knots. Initially there was a general recall since many boats had premature starts.
At mark three, Yadav was already in the lead but was closely followed by Bikram Mohapatra , Dharmender Singh and Ramesh Kumar — all of AYN. A little behind were Sharif Khan of EMESA, Mrinalini Santhanam of TNSA and Xerxes Bamboat of RBYC.
But Yadav skilfully fought off the stiff challenge of the experienced AYN sailors and maintained his lead all the way to the finish line to chalk up his first victory of this meet.
He proved it was no flash in the pan when he won the seventh race also under shifting and difficult wind conditions.
In the Laser Standard fleet, Gajender Singh proved unbeatable in the fourth race. After the first triangle he was in the lead followed by K.K. Pandey, Prabith and Gitesh.
Thereafter there was a keen fight for the second and third places but Gajender maintained his lead to finish first. His teammates Pandey and Jasveer followed him home.
In the fourth race of the 4.7 class Vikas Singh of CESC gave a good performance to finish first.
Thereafter the winds dropped and the Race Committee, after waiting for an hour-and-a-half, had to call off the remaining races scheduled for the day.
The results:
Laser Standard: Race 4: 1. Gajender Singh (AYN), 2. K.K. Pandey (AYN), 3. Jasveer Singh (AYN), 4. Prabith A. (EMESA). 5. Naveen Kumar (AYN). 6. V. Hari Hara (AYN).
Laser Radial: Race 5: 1. Dharmender Singh (AYN). 2. Sharif Khan (EMESA). 3. Varun Thakkar (TNSA). 4. Gurwinder Singh (AYN). 5. Dharmendra Singh (CESC). 6. Gaurav Pikale (RBYC).
Race 6: 1. Shekhar Singh Yadav (INWTC Mumbai). 2. Ramesh Kumar (AYN). 3. Bikram Mohapatra (AYN). 4. Dharmender Singh (AYN). 5. Sharif Khan. 6. Avneesh Kumar (EMESA).
Race 7: 1. Shekhar Singh Yadav (INWTC Mumbai). 2. Jagat Narayan Dwivedi (AWSA). 3. Gurwant Singh (CESC). 4. Mrinalini Santhanam (TNSA). 5. Sharif Khan (EMESA). 6. Dharmendra Singh (CESC).
Laser 4.7:Race 4: 1. Vikas Singh (CESC). 2. Prince Noble (MYC). 3. Ekta Yadav (NSS). 4. Varun Thakkar (TNSA). 5. Varsha Gautam (TNSA). 6. Abhimanyu Panwar (RMYC).
