Selvam takes wind out of Rajesh's sail, steals lead

Chennai, May 28 (UNI) Adapting well to shifting wind, and with overnight leader Army's Rajesh Choudhary caught off guard, his colleague D P Selvam finished ahead of the fleet in the Standard Fleet category on the third day of the Laster Coastal national sailing championships in the waters of the Bay of Bengal here today.

Selvam thrived in the light wind conditions. Jasvir and Harihara also found the going to their advantage and pushed the favourite Rajesh behind in the race. However, Rajesh came back strongly in the second and third races of the day to finish ahead and despite this discard continued to have a blemishless record.

In the Radial fleet the Army and the Navy were at loggerheads with Navy's Shekar Yadav finishing ahead in the sixth race and the Army's Dharmendra Singh maing sure of dominance in the last two races of the day. B K Rout of the Army finished in the second position by being there in the first three throughout the day.

However, it was in the Laser 4.7 fleet that there was strong fight with the young sailors fighting for positions, reading the wind shifts and making tactical decisions.

Mrinalini Santhanam got all three guns in the girls fleet and surged ahead in the competition. It was in the third race that her fortunes swung. Coming in round the leeward mark, she was ahead in the fleet.

UNI