First India International Regatta
The curtains came down on the Inaugural India International Regatta yesterday with a grand valedictory function at the Taj Connemara. Vice Admiral Anup Singh AVSM NM Flag Officer Commanding - in - Chief, Eastern Naval Command was the Chief Guest at the function.
The other guests who graced the occasion were Lt.Gen USP Sinha VSM, President of the National Optimist Association of India and Capt Subhash Kumar, Chairman Chennai Port Trust, besides many others. The hall was packed with the participants from the various countries and other sailing centres from India, parents, sponsors, friends and wellwishers.

champs_iir_09Speaking at the function Admiral Anup Singh commended the young sailors for their performance and pledged the Indian Navy's full support for promoting sailing in the country. Capt Subhash Kumar who oversaw the Volvo Stopover at Kochi last year was all praise for the tremendous growth of the sport in the last couple of years and said sailing will always be a part of the Chennai harbour scene, despite the Chennai Port being one of the busiest commercial ports in the country. Encouraged by the enthusiasm the event has generated in the city, Mr.Prabhakaran and Mr.Randhawa from the Volvo Group and Mr Hemant Kumar of Tata Teleservices Ltd announced extending their support to the event in future whilst all other sponsors' and event supporters affirmed their support for the next edition of India International Regatta scheduled at Chennai in October 2010.

Impressed by the sailing conditions here and the pleased with the warmth and hospitality of India, representatives from the visiting countries assured that their sailors will return to compete here next year in much larger numbers. Having successfully conducted the first international regatta, India is optimistic of drawing entries from many more countries next year.

Taking this opportunity, the organisors announced that the dates for the India International Regatta 2010 which will be from the 3rd to 9th of October 2010, so that there is no clash with exams or other sailing events in India or abroad to ensure far larger participation next year.

Vice Admiral Anup Singh gave away the 29er prizes, Bronze Medal to Aman Vyas / Sachin Singha from India, Silver to Xerxes Bamboat / Krish Makhija from India and the Gold and the Chera Trophy to the 29er champions for this year Kristian Kirketerp / Mathias Sletten from Denmark.

Mrs Anup Singh gave away the Optimist Girls Prizes, Bronze to Sidra Sabir, Silver to Zephra Currimbhoy and the Gold and Pallava Trophy to the Girls Optimist Champion Niveditha Ravivarman.

Lt.Gen USP Sinha gave away the Optimist Boys prizes, Bronze to Upamanyu Dutta, Silver to K C Ganapathy and Gold and the Chola Trophy to Rufus Nathaniel Patrick, the Optimist Boys Champion. All the Optimist winners are from India.

We thank everybody who made this event a success, the sponsors who supported the event, the Media who brought public awareness to the sport, the coaches whose hard work produced the talent, the parents who nurtured the sailors and of course the sailors themselves who are the stars of the show.
 
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