Ram Milan on top
Ram Milan Yadav of Madhya Pradesh stole the limelight with two wins that propelled him to the top of the tally in the Junior category at the Telangana State Open sailing championship. Having won the Hyderabad Sailing Week and in top form, Ram had dropped to third on Sunday at the end of two races but leapt to the top after six races on Monday morning.
Ram Milan sailed the first one flawlessly, leading from start to finish. He closed the day with 21 points followed not so closely by Mahesh Balachander of Tamil Nadu at 31 points who won the third race. Local lad Koteshwar Rao showed promise and is lying at third and Gautham Kankatla, also from Telangana, is sixth. Both seem to be in the reckoning for the State medals.
In the Senior category, Ajay Singh Rajput of Maharashtra, a naval sailor, again displayed dominance with two wins and is at 10 points followed by Avinash Yadav of Maharashtra, also a Naval Sailor, at 17 points.
In the Youth Category, A. Sanjay Reddy of Telangana Sports School won the fifth race out of the blue. He shocked the fleet with some able management of wind shifts thereby upsetting the tables a bit.
At the end of the sixth race in the Youth Category Shikar Garg and Govind Bairagi, both from Madhya Pradesh, are at the top of the leaderboard followed by Suresh N of Karnataka. The State Youth Championship has Tanishq Desai at the top.
THE RESULTS
Juniors — Laser 4.7: 1. Ram Milan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh, 21 points), 2. Mahesh Balachander (Tamil Nadu, 31), 3. Koteshwar Rao (Telangana, 40).
Youth — Laser Radial: 1. Shikar Garg (Madhya Pradesh, 22 points), 2. Govind Bairagi (Maharashtra, 28), 3. Shekhar Singh Yadav (Maharashtra, 29).
Senior — Laser Standard: 1. Ajay Singh Rajput (Maharashtra, 10 points), 2. Avinash Yadav (Maharashtra, 17), 3. GCK Reddy (Andhra Pradesh, 21)