Hyderabad: The 6th edition of Monsoon Regatta kicked off at the Yacht Club of Hyderabad with much fanfare on Tuesday. And for the first time, many children from top schools are also taking part.
But the lack of a monsoon was the talking point and, Suheim Sheikh, founder president of Yacht Club of Hyderabad, was positive that the dry sky will not prove to be a spoiler.
“For sailing, we just need proper wind and the weather now has it. So there won’t be an issue.” He adds, “Monsoon Regatta will be sailing the Americas Cup format for the first time in India which is television and viewer friendly.”
The first day saw the Topper and Omega racing competition. In the Omega race, sailing world champions, Nitin Mongia and Mahesh Ramachandran were battling on the Hussainsagar waves alongside Abhimanyu Panwar from Chennai. Both Nitin and Mahesh are world champions and Arjuna awardees.
In the Topper Nationals, defending national champion Vishnu Sujeesh battled it out with silver medalist Dheer Singhi. City boy, bronze medalist Ragi Rajnikanth, also participated.
Drishya Mani is the favourite in the Topper Class among the girls while Rishab Nayar is the favourite amongst the boys in the Optimist Class alongside Leela Sagar.
Ananya Chauhan from Gitanjali, who is the favourite amongst girls for the Gold in the Optimist Class, was seen struggling with the wind.
