the goan I network
PANAJI
A minor equipment damage to one of the windsurfing boards minutes before the first race could take off affected the Coelho siblings Dayne and Katya significantly on the first day of the RS Mixed One sailing event at the Asian Games.
The competition started at an intense pace from Indonesian Sailing Centre in Ancol at Jakarta Bay yesterday with all 144 competitors getting the full schedule of racing in gusty wind conditions that confronted the racers on four different courses on the water.
The Coelhos finished seventh overall at the end of the two races on Friday and will be seen action in 13 more races with a one-day break after eight races.
Donald Coelho, coach-cum-father of the sailors said both of them were positive going into the race but the minor mishap disturbed them both mentally.
“We woke up with a positive frame of mind and took about 15 minutes to rig up the equipment. Katya thought of going a little early. But as she was fixing her fin to her board there was a chip of the fin box and we had to repair it. We rushed to the measurer to get the permission to repair the board,” said Donald.
As it was a last rush and a lot of running around to get permission, momentarily it affected the concentration of both the sailors.
“It was a panic situation. I believe the mental focus is the most important thing in any achievement and this situation disturbed both the siblings. First Dayne, was more focused on his sister’s course and landed up losing 3 positions for the first race and finished 6th.”
“As it is a mixed team event and scores of both are counted Dayne was eager to put a good score against his name to help in the overall score,” added Donald.
The Indian team thus finished seventh overall at the end of the first day giving off their best efforts to fight against the top seven countries in Asia.
Donald was hopeful that they will bounce back on the second day.
“Hopefully they will come back stronger. I have told them to be focused and not think of the first day’s result as they go into the second day.”
However, there was some good news for Indian sailors in a couple of other categories.
In the 49er, the Asian Sailing Championship 2018 Gold Medallists, India’s Ganapathy and Varun opened the day with one first place and slipped to fifth in the second. The Korean pair of Chae Bonjin and Kim Dongwok lead the pack with 5 points.
In the 49erFX, Singapore’s Kimberly Min Lim and Cecilia Low who had a perfect day with two first positions are placed first overall and Chinese follow them in the second, India in third and Thailand in fourth.
