Varun and Ganapathy clinch gold at 49er Asian Sailing championships!

The Indian pair of Varun Thakkar and K.C. Ganapathy won the gold medal in the Asian 49er sailing championships at Al Mussannah Sports City, Oman, on Tuesday. This is Varun and Ganapathy’s third medal at the Asians after the first place in 2018 and runner-up spot in 2019.

Varun and Ganapathy thanked their personal coach Bunny Warren for the triumph. “The competition was one of the toughest we’ve faced so far. We pulled as a unit along with coach Warren.

Ganapathy said the Asians were good preparation for the World Championships at the same venue from Nov. 16 to 21. “We have a long way to go, but we are slowly getting there,” said Ganapathy.

In the 49er FX class the Indian women sailors Harshita Tomar and Sweta Shervegar clinched the silver and proved that Indian women sailors are no less to the best in the world.

The 2021 49er and 49er FX Asian Championships was hosted by Oman Sail at Mussanah, Oman between 6 th to 9 th November 2021.

It was a red letter day for Team India and a proud moment for the Sailors for Tamil Nadu Sailing Association when Varun Thakkar and K.C. Ganapathy put India on the world map as Asian champions of this highly competitive Olympic 49er class Skiff.

Rashid Al Kindi, Director of Sailing at Oman Sail, said, “Today served as a reminder of how sailing in Asia has progressed and how much talent is coming through the national sailing programmes. We are very pleased with how the tournament has been managed and it has been great to welcome sailors back to Oman. We are in the middle of a very busy winter season and look forward to seeing the gains made during this competition show in the rankings at the 49er and 49erFX World Championships next week.”

The 2021 Asian 49er and 49erFX Championships attracted fleet of 50 across both classes, representing countries from Asia competing for the title and guest sailors around the world training in a competitive environment.