There could not have been a better harbinger than the cool monsoon breeze during  the first regatta conducted by the Telangana Sailing Association. The mercury dropped dramatically and the conditions were spectacular with mild winds coming in from the traditional southwest and the young sailors traipsed into the waters in search of gold.

 

Minister for Irrigation and Legislature, Harish Rao flagged off the races alongside P Ramulu,IPS, Chairman Tourism. The Rowpast by the National Rowing Federation was spectacular and fielded some the the top rowers in the country , guided by Dronacharya Ismail Baig that left the audience breathless as they silently glided past the podium as the Minister took the salute.

 

Mr Harish Rao briefed the media on the steps being taken by the CM  to restore the Hussain Sagar  water quality and the steps being taken to stop and divert the ingress of pollutants  to the lake. He said the CM is determined to clean up the lake before the next Water Sports Regatta. He was impressed by the large number of kids being trained at the Yacht Club.

 

The 1-EME Centre displayed some high performance Kayaking and the youngsters of the Sports Authority had a mini competition winning three golds.

 

The President of the Telangana Sailing Association , Suheim Sheikh,  introduced each of the 30 young sailors by name to the Chief Guest much to the impression of the audience.

 

The young sailors gulped in the wonderful winds and the Optimist racing was dominated by the experienced Annanya Chauhan by a wide margin. Most of the sailors had just learned to sail over the last few months but showed tremendous prowess with Mohan of LSN Foundation actually taking two first places to everyones surprise.  However the experienced Chauhan won with 11 points and Pallam Arun from Udbhav School came in runners up. There was a close fight between Gautham of Udbhav School and Durga Prasad of LSNF both at 29 points but Gautham won by a nose as he had two second finishes.

 

"The weather Gods were on our side side and we must now make this an annual affair. The Telangana state has great medal winning chances in water sports"  said Mr.Dinkar Babu VCMD of the Sports Authority.

 

The Laser qualifiers were topped by Ragi Rajnikanth and Leela Sagar of YCH followed by Rishab Nair of Silver Oaks and Shivaram of St. Mary's Junior College . Tanishq Desai of DPS, National Champion in the Topper Class had a bad day on the water. The finals are in progress as we write this report with much stronger winds predicted in the afternoon session and a tight competition between the final 4 , all sailors from the Yacht Club of Hyderabad.

 

Mr.Harish Rao thereafter addressed a press conference where he assured the citizens that Mission Kakatiya will transform the lakes and tanks across the state and Mr.Ramulu was very enthusiastic about promoting water and adventure sports across the state of Telangana.

 

The Hyderabad Watersports Regatta has scheduled a grand finish with a Recreational Kayaking competition open to all citizens thru the GHAC and almost 75 have already registered by this event that is rapidly gaining in popularity. Recreational Kayaking is designed to serve as a team building and leadership activity and enables one to effortlessly learn Kayaking and compete in a race within 3 hours from scratch to finish.