Ghanashyam, Thomas of AYN march ahead on second day

Panaji, May 11 (UNI) P J Thomas and Ghanashyam of the Army Yachting Node (AYN) today won both the races of the Boardsailing National Championship being held at Dolphin Adventure Sports Centre, off Hawai beach Dona Paula today.

Fairly strong winds and waves made sailing difficult. In Race 3, Rainer Dias (GYA) got off to a great start and was the first to get past the windwardmark. However, after leading till the leeward mark, he took the wrong direction, and lost three places, Ghanashyam capitalised to take the lead, followed by Thomas and A Prakash (AYN), but some superaltive sailing by Remy enabled him to gain two places to finish third.

Race 4 saw Remy move into the lead from the start, but he was closely follwed by Thomas and Ghanashyam (both AYN). Rainer dropped his sail just before the start, and was two minutes behind the startline, and retired from the race after the leeward mark. Remy held a narrow lead till the leeward mark, but the fitter Thomas managed to force his way past him on the second beat, to take the lead.

In the youth category, Ankeet Desai of Martins Windsurfing Academy (MVA) took both the races, running up a fantastic planning reach in Race 4 to go from third position to first past Amir Noronha and then past Chaitanya Chowgule, who had led from the start, to cross the finish line. In the junior class, Divya Sahasrabudde won all three races over Armaan Arora, with Denali Dias retiring from the last two races to be eliminated.

Provisional results: Open category: Race 3: 1-Ghanshyam (AYN), 2-P J Thomas (AYN), 3- Remy Fernandes (GYA), 4-A Tripathi (AYN), 5-Rainer Dias (GYA).

Race 4: 1-P J Thomas (AYN), 2-Remy Fernandes (GYA), 3-Ghanashyam (AYN), 4-A Prakash (AYN), 5-Donald Coelho (GYA).

Youth Category: Race 3: 1-Ankeet Desai (MWA), 2-Chaitanya Chowgule (GYA), 3-Amir Noranha (GYA).

Race 4: 1-Ankeet Desai (MWA), 2-Chaitanya Chowgule (GYA), 3-Amir Noronha (GYA).

UNI SRN KU PDS PM0028