Hyderabad: Nethra Kumanan of Tamil Nadu won two of the three races in the youth category in the morning session to dominate the first Telangana State Regatta which began on Tuesday. Vishnu Saravanan of Andhra Pradesh, who is the current national champion in the Youth class, won the second race and was involved in a tight battle in the third race with Nethra until he broke his mast during the second last leg and had to retire.
That pushed him to overall fourth with 14 penalty points with Nethra leading with just 4 penalties. Tanishq Desai of Telangana had three spectacular starts and led the fleet for the most part of the first leg but sheer experience and tactical superiority helped Nethra and Vishnu get past him. He leads the Telangana pack and is overall placed third in the Open with 13 penalty points. The Regatta has two trophies in each group — Open and State. Tanishq should win the State trophy should he maintain form over the next three days.
The afternoon session turned out to be great for the state with Telangana Sports School boys doing well. Konda Goruvaiah came in first and K. Ganesh took the third place. Ramya Sarvanan of Andhra Pradesh squeezed into the second position in the only race that could be conducted for the Junior Class sailed in the Laser 4.7 as racing was disrupted by a massive thunderstorm that lasted 20 minuted and disrupted visibility. The Telangana Sailing Association has set up a fresh new course format that has a slalom like finish making the racing tight and interesting. Sailors from five states are taking part in this event.
