Mongia, Mahesh emerge National champions

Mongia and Mahesh will participate in three area championships before sailing in the World Championship, to be held in Moundsbay from July 29 to August 4.

Sailing together for the past two years, during which they teamed upfor the World Championships in South Africa, besides the trials and Nationals last year, the duo have turned into a fine combination which reflected in their smooth sailing.

With 12 points against their name without a discard (dropping out the worst showing) all they had to do was finish fourth or fifth on Friday. The fact that their two closest rivals, Sanjeev Chauhan-R Dhulaji and Farokh Tarapore-Pushpendra Garg, failed to finish in the top two also paved the way for their success.

Mongia and Mahesh are now at liberty to skip the seventh and last race but they chose not to reveal their plans. “We’ll think about it,” Mongia said when quizzed about the morrow.

Though their success makes them the top pair, the low-profile Mongia wouldn’t like to be talked as the No 1 in the country. However, his partnerMahesh thought the tag fits them well.

Mahesh felt their performance in the championship was “quite satisfying” considering that they had to come up from behind. “It’s difficult, but the fact that we managed gives us the satisfaction,” he said.

The fight for the runners-up spot in Enterprise class is now between defending champions and sixth race winners Naresh Yadav-Jitendra Rami, Sanjeev Chauhan-Dhulaji and Tarapore-Garg who will try to get the first gun in the seventh and last race on Saturday.

Also finishing as winners were Sandeep Jain and Adwait Parkar of Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai in the Cadet (U-17) class. Jain and Parkar swept the title taking the first gun in the first, second, fifth and the sixth race.

The Optimist (U-15) class title was also claimed by Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai boy Sagar Padalkar. He won the sixth race with ease that saw him emerge as the winner. He had earlier won the second, fourth and fifth races.

The runners-up place was clinched by Mithu Nahak, also from Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai.

In the Seabird class, the trio of SK Kanwar, Anil Das and Shaji won the sixth race but had a protest against them from the race committee.

Rohit Pardesi and crew finished second in the race.

RESULTS
Enterprise: Race VI: 1. Naresh Yadav-Jitendra Rami 2. Gautam Dutta-Rajesh Chaudhary 3. Farokh Tarapore-Pushpendra Garg 4. Ashim Mongia-R Mahesh (all Naval Sailing Club, Mumbai) 5. Mehul Ashar-G Rao (Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai)

Seabird: Race VI: 1. SK Kanwar-Anil Das-S Shaji (EME Sailing Association, Secundrabad) 2. Rohit Pardesi-K D’Souza-A Zazam (Mumbai Customs Yacht Club) 3. Kim Sabir-Cesar Menezes-Atish Fernandes (Goa Yatching Association) 4. Nilay Patil-Sushant Mhatre-Vaibhav Sarpotdar (Colaba Sailing Association) 5. Sharma-Hande-Khan (Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai)

Optimist: Race VI: 1. Sagar Padalkar 2. Mithu Nahak (both Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai) 3. Salil Sabir (Goa Yachting Association) 4. Ninad Mayekar 5. Jatin Gohil (Sea Cadet Corps).

Cadet: Race VI: 1. Sandep Jain-Adwait Parkar 2. Saif Shaikh-Dishant Nair 3. Divitesh Satpute-Prasad Shelar 4. Damiyal Kazi-Ankita Mehta 5. Ayaz Sheikh-Katrav Bhatt (all Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai).