Laser National sailing championships to
be held in city from 12 -18 July
Hyderabad|India|July'2009: Major General AV
Subramanian, Vice President, Laser Class Association of India said, that
the “Laser National sailing championships will be held at the Hussain
Sagar, from 12 to 18, July 2009” at a Press conference organized at EME
Sailing Club in Secunderabad.
EME Sailing Association and Secunderabad Sailing Club conducting jointly
the Laser National Championship in the three variants of the Laser boats
i.e. Laser standard, Laser radial and Laser 4.7. The course will be laid
depending on wind conditions prevalent at the time of competition.
The Laser Class Association of India came into being in the year 1986
under the Presidentship of Lt. General Tripat Singh, the then Commandant
of Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME),
Secunderabad. The Laser Nationals are being held regularly every year
since then.
The Laser Class is one of the most popular yachting classes globally with
over 1, 50,000 boats racing in practically all parts of the world and is
still growing at a phenomenal rate. It is an Olympic single hander class
for men and is being sailed in the Olympics since the year 1996. It has
been inducted as the Olympic single hander class for women for the
Olympics at Beijing in 2008. The Laser has become very popular in India in
recent years. In India, this class of boat is managed by the Laser Class
Association of India (LCAI).
A fleet of 90-100 sailors including participants in the women and youth
category will participate from all over the country. Well known names like
Double Asian Games Bronze medalist (2002 & 2006) and multiple national
champion and defending champion in Laser Std Class, Rajesh Choudhary,
defending champion in Laser radial Class BK Rout, Dharmender Singh,
Jasveer Singh, Parvinder Singh, Xerxes Bamboat and a number of other
sailors will participate. Suhiem Shaikh and S Anirudh will lead the local
challenge. It is pertinent to note that Rajesh Choudhary started and honed
his sailing skills in our Hussain Sagar Lake. This year the championship
will see a galaxy of noted sailing clubs; viz. Army Yatching Node (AYN),
Mumbai, Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centres (INWTC), Vizag, Mumbai
and Kochi, the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association (TNSA), the Royal Madras
Yacht Club, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, the National Sailing School
Bhopal, the Secunderabad Sailing Club, the EME Sailing Association, the
EME Sailing Club Bhopal, the Corps of Engineers Sailing Club, the NDA
Sailing Club and the Goa Yatching Association, and others participating.
The six day, thirty race championships is held under the aegis of the
Laser Class Association of India, whose President is Lt Gen IJ Singh,
Commandant, MCEME. He is ably assisted by Maj Gen A V Subramanian, the
Vice President and other office bearers.
To maintain healthy competition at all levels and keeping in tune with the
International Laser Class Association policy, a large no of prizes in
various categories will be awarded. These will cover age groups ranging
from 12 to 64 years.
Reachout's News Bureau
July' 2009
