Hyderabad: Hyderabad sailor Ananya Chouhan was part of the team that finished fourth at the 2019 edition of the J80 Asian Championship held in Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre in Qingdao, China.
The side was helmed by Abhimanyu Panwar with Capt. Vivek Shanbagh, Avinash and Shweta Sherveger (2018 Asian Games silver medallist) as the other members. The quintet missed the bronze medal by four points.
The team had a best finish of second position in Races 10 & 11 on the last day. A series of 11 races were conducted over four days of racing, during which the conditions varied from low wind to stormy, exposing the sailors to all kinds of challenging conditions.
As many as 18 teams participated in the event organised by the Asian J80 Class Association and T&Z Yacht Club.
The conditions were challenging, boat setting and the helm’s experience played a key role. Despite having sailed for only a few days together as a team, all the crew members’ personnel sailing experience came into play.
Though Abhimanyu, Ananya and Vivek had an experience of the World Championship 2019 held in Spain in July, the team faced challenges on the first day in understanding the local current and tide conditions.
Stormy conditions and choppy seas on the second day meant they didn’t do too well. They managed to finish seventh overall after the third day though, before snapping right back into the game by finishing second in two of the races on the last day.
