AYN's Thomas 1 point ahead of Remy Fernandes(Goa)in overall standing

Panaji, May 12 (UNI) In a ding-dong battle of sailing skills, fitness and nerves at the Boardsailing National Championship 2006 held at Dolphin Adventure Sports Centre, Hawaii Beach, Dona Paula, P J Thomas of the Army Yachting Node (AYN) won the first and third races to get one point ahead of Remy Fernandes of Goa Yachting Association (GYA) in the overall standings.

Remy, however, won the second race of the day.

With winds at around 10 to 12 knots and half-metre waves, conditions were ideal for skilled windsurfers. In Race 5, Rainer Dias (GYA) got off to the best start, but was overtaken by Thomas and Remy on the first beat, with Maj Ashutosh Tripathi (AYN) close behind. But Ghanashyam (AYN) managed to get the better of Rainer on the run, pushing him to fourth place. GYA's Donald Coelho was fifth.

In Race 6, Remy established a commanding lead at the windward mark, followed by Thomas and Rainer. However, a dodgy run which involved one gybe too many saw Thomas almost catch up with him at the leeward mark. However, Remy put in a highly tactical beat to pull ahead of Thomas, who lost out on the run to teammate Ghanashyam as well, and finished third.

Race 7 saw a veritable ding-dong battle between Thomas, Ghanashyam and Remy. While Remy was fourth, behind the two armymen and Rainer at the windward mark, he managed to pull ahead with a brilliant run to come into second place at the leeward mark.

However, an early tack to the left of the course on the second beat proved to be an error of judgement that saw him fall to third place. A huge gamble to get ahead on the last run worked to his disadvantage, leaving him in third place.

In the youth category, Ankeet Desai of Martins Windsurfing Academy (MWA) took all three races, establishing his undisputed superiority in his category.

Chaitanya Chowgule and Amir Noronha came second and third in all three races. In the junior class, the Sahasrabuddhe twins -- Aditi and Divya -- grabbed the honours in the junior section, with the former winning two races and the latter one.

Provisional Results: Open category: Race 5: 1 P J Thomas (AYN), 2 Remy Fernandes (GYA), 3 Ghanashyam (AYN), 4 Rainer Dias (GYA), 5 Donald Coelho (GYA).

Race 6: 1 Remy Fernandes (GYA), 2 Ghanashyam (AYN), 3 P J Thomas (AYN), 4 Rainer Dias (GYA), 5 A Prakash (AYN).

Race 7: 1 P J Thomas (AYN), 2 Ghanashyam (AYN), 3 Remy Fernandes (GYA), 4 Donald Coelho (GYA), 5 R Sarvanan (AYN).

Overall standings: Open: 1 P J Thomas - 9 points (AYN), 2 Remy Fernandes - 10 points (GYA), 3 Ghanashyam - 14 points (AYN), 4 Rainer Dias - 33 points (GYA), 5 Prakash A -34 points (AYN).

Youth: 1 Ankeet Desai - 6 points (MWA), Chaitanya Chowgule - 11 points (GYA), 3 Amir Noronha - 17 points (GYA).

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