(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman emerged as the leading nation at the Abu Dhabi Open Regatta in UAE last week after some impressive individual performances from members of the national squad and the promising youth sailing team.
Al Moatasem al Farsi, representing Oman Sail's Mussanah Sailing School, swept to an emphatic victory in the Optimist class, which started out with 45 entries from UAE, the UK, Australia, The Netherlands, Greece and Switzerland.
After five races across three days, Farsi, who won the National Sailing Championships in Oman earlier this year, scored three first-places to finish six points ahead of nearest rival Abdulaziz al Hammadi from UAE.
Mohammed al Alawi from Al Mouj Muscat Sailing School came fourth in the Optimist over-12 class, while Alla al Amrani, from Mussanah Sailing School, finished seventh.
Oman's leading girl, Samiha al Riyami from Al Mouj Sailing School, won the girls' division. She beat The Netherlands' Mathilde Oldeman into second place.
Oman fielded representatives in five classes, from the Optimist class for U12s to the full Olympic Laser Standard class, which was won by Oman's leading dinghy sailor Ahmed al Balushi, topping the eight-strong leaderboard after a close contest with Saif Ibrahim al Hammadi from UAE.
Mansoor al Mahrouqi came third in the Laser Radials, in a field of 14 with national squad member Ibtisam al Salmi in 12th and Abdul al Hinai finished in an impressive second place in the 23-strong Laser 4.7 after winning two of his five races.
For the Omani sailors, the event served as preparation for future events, such as the Arab Sailing Championships in Abu Dhabi in December and the ISAF Youth Worlds in New Zealand, starting on December 16.
'This was a very good event for the team, both in how they performed and also the extent to which they were tested,' said Mohsin al Busaidi, Oman Sail's youth sailing development manager.
Busaidi added, 'Our sailors have made good progress. We were the strongest nation at this event and that was despite the fact that some sailors were new to their classes and had been on a break from training. 'We need to keep pushing to improve. We are at the start of a long journey to Olympic success and we know that there are no shortcuts. But I see some real talent coming from our four sailing schools and that is really encouraging.'
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