Royal and Navy sailors to represent Sri Lanka at 4th CAS International
A team of six sailors representing Sri Lanka, including two from Royal College and four Sri Lanka Navy, will leave the island tomorrow, to participate at the 4th Chief of Air Staff (CAS) International Open Sailing Championship, to be held in Karachi, Pakistan, from May 14 to 19.
Two 15-year-old students from Royal College and four sailors from the Navy make up this year’s team of six after qualifying at selections held by the national sailing body, the Yachting Association of Sri Lanka.
Royalists Yusef Hazari, the number one ranking sailor three years running in his category in Sri Lanka, and Saditha Gamage, will compete in the ILCA 4 Class. From the Sri Lanka Navy, U.D. Rajapaksha and J.S. Seneviratne will compete in the ILCA 7 category, while Sri Lanka’s top windsurfer K.P.P. Gunawardena and W.A.S. Weeratunga will compete in RSX Windsurfing category. The team will be accompanied by the national ILCA coach Roshil Nisantha.
(From left): Saditha Gamage, K.P.P. Gunawardena, J.S. Seneviratne, Roshil Nisantha (National ILCA Coach), U.D. Rajapaksha, W.A.S. Weeratunga and Yusef Hazari
“Our team consists some of
Sri Lanka’s top ranking sailors and windsurfers. We have trained hard, and we are confident they will perform well in Pakistan,” said Nisantha.
The championship hosted by the Pakistan Air Force, will see a total of 95 sailors from 13 different countries including Malaysia, Kazakhstan, China, Bahrain, Indonesia, Egypt, Thailand, South Korea, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Sri Lanka compete during the six-day event.
“This year’s International Sailing Regatta in Karachi will see fierce competition with sailors from around the world competing for the titles in the four classes, including the ILCA7, ILCA4, RSX and Optimist,” said Wing Commander Mehran Khan, Commanding Officer of Pakistan Air Force Yacht Club, stated.
“We are certain this will be an extremely competitive and successful one that will enrich the experience of competing sailors,” he added.