Pakistan dominate Tri-nation Regatta
Pakistan Times Sports Report

BOLGODA (Sri Lanka): Pakistan dominates Tri-nation Regatta in the realm of yachting, as unparalled enthusiasm and excitement persists amidst fun and gaiety prevailed amongst the children, men and women during the last few days at the Ceylon Motor Yacht Club [CMYC] in Bolgoda. As expected it was a hive of activity, and had to be so, since it marked the eagerly looked forward to historic revival of the South Asian Yachting Regatta after a lapse of 23 years, the last of which was held in India in 1981.

This revived Tri-Nation Yachting Regatta between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was organized and conducted by the Yachting Association of Sri Lanka (YASL) with the concurrence of CMYC and the active support and sponsorship of Ceylon Cold Stores [CCS].

Pleasant Weather

The three day memorable regatta which was brought to a successful close on Sunday, was marked by weather that was pleasant, for a sport of this nature. There was certainly, no question of 'no wind no sailing' for the wind was strong enough to be around 4 to five beaufforts and with the skyline varying from clear bright blue skies, to mild at times made conditions near perfect for the sailors of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The pride and plum of this tri-nation regatta, was the sailing for the prestigious South Asian Yachting Regatta Shield, or known as well as the Lipton's team race. Each of three nations had 3 boats, with a helm and crew in each boat and, one nation had to take on another, accounting for six races in this team event.

In-depth

The Pakistan outfit did well to make use of their skill and experience to come right on top, to out sail Sri Lanka to second place and Pakistan to third. The Pakistan team which won gold medals were - Helm: Zahid Rauf, Crew: Muhammad Ashfaq Helm: Mammoon Sadiq, Crew: Abdul Hameed, Helm: Shehryar Arshad, crew: Muhammad Riyaz the Silver medallists from Sri Lanka were Helm: W. P. K. Janaka, Crew: K. D. S. Kumara, Helm: Sarith Pethiyagoda, Crew: D. P. Newton, Helm: L. P. K. Gunathilleke, Crew: R. P. I. Pushpakumara. The Indian Bronze Medal winners Helm: Abhishek Mhatre, Crew: Suraj Singh, Helm: Neeta Angre, Crew: Joji Joseph, Helm: Dhamendrasingh, Crew: Chaitanya Chowgule. The Pakistanis apart from winning gold medals also carried away the SAYR shield. Pakistan did not stop there, for they stamped their superiority by taking the first and second place in the individual Lewis Brown event.

The Winners

The Pakistan winners were H - Shehryar Arshad, C - Muhammad Riaz, the Pakistan runner ups were H - Mamoon Sadiq, C - Abdul Hameed, coming in third was Sri Lanka with H - W. P. K. Janaka and C - K. D. S. Kumara.

Making amends for the failure of the Sri Lankan seniors to impress, were the juniors, who did extremely well to display much courage and determination on the wide expanse of the Bolgoda waters.

Under-12 Juniors

In the under 12 Junior category, the little lads Tshan Abeysekera and Devin Gunawardena from Sri Lanka came first and second respectively followed by Pakistan's Waleed Tobeh and Ghazal Mir Masood taking third and fourth place, with Sri Lanka's Radeeka Jirasinghe coming in fifth. In the under 16 years division Akshan Jirasinghe Sri Lanka came first, followed by India's Suraj Singh, with Sri Lankans Oshan Weerasinghe and Viren Dias coming third and fourth and Shazil Tahir of Pakistan placed fifth.

However in the Junior 'optimist' event comprising 12 races between Sri Lanka A & B teams, Pakistan and India, involving races between the 4 teams. India came out first and 6 wins, Sri Lanka second with 4 wins, Pakistan third with 2 wins and Sri Lanka 'A' with no wins was placed fourth.

The Team

Pakistans' winning team comprised Gazal Mirmasood, Waleed Tobeh, Shazil Tahir and Hussein Patel. The runner-up Sri Lanka 'B' had Oshan Weerasinghe, Indrajith Abeysena, Devin Goonewardena and Akshan Jirasingha, present on the final day were the Directors of CCS headed by Jit Guneratne and Billy Walpola, CCS did really turn it on with their lavish hospitality. The awards ceremony was impressive with President YASL, Ananda Wimaladharma and Commodore CMYC, Joseph Kenny, doing the honours with Lalin Jirasingha while the media was co-ordinated well by Hans Svendsen and Prenitha Gunewardena.

According to Shehryar Arshad of Pakistan, the next SAYR will be held in July at Karachi.●