Indian sailing siblings brave troubled waters
JAKARTA: Former national windsurfing champion Donald Coelho was happy to see his son Dayne and daughter Katya get selected to the India sailing team for the Asian Games. Little did Coelho know that troubled waters lay ahead.
Problems began even before the trio left Goa for Jakarta. The Coelhos had to fly without quality boards, which were supposed to be given to them by the Goa Yachting Association (GYA).
A ‘harassed’ father Donald, who is also the team’s coach, didn’t want his wards to miss the surfing event and his search for boards took him to many places in Singapore where they had stopped for a day. Finally, he managed to buy one at $700 (now almost Rs 48,926) and got another on rent as he reportedly ran out of money.
Dayne and Katya are the only athletes from Goa here and they would be competing in the mixed RS One event on Friday at the Indonesia National Sailing Centre.
“The conduct of the Goa Yatching Association is really discouraging as the proposal for procurement of two windsurfing boards is still pending for more than four months,” said Donald, a threetime national champion.
The Goans attained the qualifying mark for the Asian Games at the Yachting Association of India (YAI) selection trials held in Chennai between April 16-22. The trials were held before the 17th Asian Sailing Championship that was also held here in June.
Nelita Coelho, the siblings’ aunt, is upset with GYA. “This should have been their top priority so they can perform better. Now they have gone with their old equipment which has seen a lot of wear and tear,” she wrote in a social media post.
A senior official of the Yachting Association of India though claimed that there was nothing wrong on their part. “It was nothing about not getting clearance or anything. The Goa government had already given the intimation but before they could give them the equipment, the athletes left,” said the official requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.
“Anyway, the boy’s father has already travelled to Singapore and purchased the sails and returned. It is not far from Indonesia,” the official said.