Battle between Mongia, Mahesh

HYDERABAD, Aug 13: A keen tussle is on cards between the top two contenders, defending champion Lt R Mahesh of Naval Sailing Club NSC a...

HYDERABAD, Aug 13: A keen tussle is on cards between the top two contenders, defending champion Lt R Mahesh of Naval Sailing Club NSC and his compatriot Nitin Mongia NSC in the decisive back to back fourth and fifth race tomorrow in the Laser Standard Rig event of the ongoing BPL International Laser Class Regatta championship at Hussain Sagar Lake here.

The two races, held keeping in tandem with international rules, are billed as most important for both the sailors as they were disqualified for different infringements in the second race held on Tuesday.

These two races course will be shortened by the race committee to complete the events well in the stipulated time. Mahesh and Mongia are in a tremendous pressure as these two races will clear the way for the title, if only there are no protests or any untoward incident tomorrow.

A chopper pilot from Navy, Mahesh sailed on Hussain Sagar Lake for several years and began his title hunt in style by winning the first race in an hour and just under twominutes sending signals to his rivals of retaining the championship.

He participated in various international regattas and has all the ingredients of retaining the title, provided he tunes his sails and reads the weather conditions properly to keep out his rivals at bay. However, Mahesh sees a threat in Mongia, who comes from a sailing family. A share broker by profession, Mongia claimed second position in first race and made amends in third. He threatened Mahesh in the third race but his efforts failed in the end thus finishing second with a separation of eight seconds only.

Local sailor Anirudh Vijay Kumar of Andhra Bank, a reserve for the forthcoming Asian Games in the OK Dinghy Class event, has already claimed two first places in the three races. Stocky Anirudh came first in second and third races and with winds favouring him, he is sure to keep up the same tempo of sailing in the next four race schedule.

Defending champion in OK Dinghy class, Havaldar Purshotham Sharma of Emesa after winning thefirst race had a chance of consolidating his position in second race as Anirudh despite his broken mast came first.

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Sharma, who was leading, fell behind Anirudh in the last beat. In third race, Sharma faced the problem of kicker failure8217; at the first beat which once again forced him to be satisfied with the second position.

In the Laser Radial event, defending champion Havaldar Rajesh Choudhary of EME Sailing Association is heading the bunch of 17 sailors with two top positions of the three races held. But the fight for the second position would be between local sailor Tirumala Rao of Secunderabad Sailing Club and Major Sandeep Kapoor of Corps of Enginers Sailing Club.