With 7 wins and 3 second places, Kaushal had utterly dominated the tournament.
The Tata Photon Monsoon Regatta Hobie Inland championships saw the complete domination of Kaushal Kumar and crew Girish M across all conditions.
With 7 wins and 3 second places, Kaushal had utterly dominated the tournament.
Kaushal and Girish finished first overall, winning the coveted Apollo Munich Trophy in the Hobie 16 Class with 7 penalty points, followed by Brijesh Verma and B S Rao at 17 points.
In the 9th race, it was Kaushal and Girish all the way from start to finish, leaving no room for doubt about his supremacy over the entire fleet. Kaushal's intelligent reading of wind shifts and better boat speed complemented the able crewing of Girish M, and proved unbeatable.
Verma and Rao gave Kaushal a run for his money in the 10th race with varying wind conditions. With some back and forth across the downwind legs, Verma took the lead in the final finishing leg to take his second win.
Brijesh Verma and B S Rao got the Silver with 17 penalty points, followed by Praveena and Janjirkar who got the Bronze with 23 penalty points.
In the Match Racing fleet of J24 boats, Aashim Mongia was conspicuous by his absence, and his team had to do without him as he was hit by high fever the previous night.
Nitin Mongia and Mahesh R had a close race in the round robin, and R Mahesh was penalized for a blatant foul which resulted in a collision. Commander Mahesh got ahead by the end of the first leg with some good wind reading, but Nitin craftily got ahead while R Mahesh was completing his penalty.
Speaking about today's races, Nitin Mongia said, "Today's race between me and Mahesh was very close, Mahesh had a penalty and I could win the race against him. I hope to see a close race tomorrow to in the second round robin too before getting into semi finals."
Some close racing thereafter and a bit of cat and mouse between the arch rivals and great friends got defending champion Nitin Mongia a whisker ahead at the finish.
Defending Girls Champion Ayesha Lobo lost a close race to Taramati Matiwade for the first time in her career, showing her progress over the past year.
The overall positions after the first round robin are: Nitin Mongia (1), Mahesh Ramchandran (2), Aashim Mongia (3) and Taramati Matiwade (4). Nitin Mongia won all his matches with a 100% record.
The second Round Robin will commence on Friday, but as of now, you can safely bet on a nail-biting finale between the stalwarts R Mahesh and Nitin Mongia - both Arjuna awardees, with Mahesh ranked 33 in the world and Nitin at 93.
The little Optimists were dotting the waterscape of Hussain Sagar in a training session conducted by the ever-present Sunil Lobo of RBYC Mumbai. The youngsters were practising for the Tata Photon Monsoon Regatta Optimist Championships slated to start on Friday with the first race at 10:15 on the morning of the 16th.
Defending Champion Upamanyu Dutta is yet to arrive from Malaysia till reports last came in, and Ganapati, the Asian Games selectee, has arrived without his spars. Zaphra Currimbhoy was displaying supreme confidence on shore by cleaning up her boat laden with coal dust from the Chennai Port.
The Optimists will be the largest fleet on Friday, with more than 50 entries, including about 12 local youngsters. The entire purpose of the Monsoon Regatta has always been to focus on youngsters, making this the championship to watch for and certainly the most competitive.
Courtesy: INN News