131 sailors to take part in national event

HYDERABAD: The 26th Laser National Sailing Championship kicked-off the Hyderabad Sailing Week at the Secunderabad Sailing Club on Sunday morning. The week-long event organized by the EME Sailing Association and Secunderabad Club will be on till July 31 at the Hussain Sagar.The national sailing event will see 131 participants compete in three classes of Laser sailboats- Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and Laser Standard.“Never give up is the message I want to convey to participants of the event,” said Lt General NB Singh, VSM, Commandant of MCEME and Commodore of EME Sailing Association. He also highlighted the need for cleaning up the lake waters.“I started taking part in sailing events three years back and I hope to win this time,” said a confident Nishtha from Pune.  The 17-year-old will be participating in the Laser class event for the first time at the national level. The championship has attracted contestants from a wide-age spectrum, with this year’s oldest participant in the Grand Master category being 62 years old.The EME Sailing Association has also trained 29 sailing aspirants this year from the National Cadet Corps and Central Reserve Police Force, who underwent a three-month training programme.