Sailing: Junior National Sailing Team in India representing SL

A team of 10 young sailors left the island on Sunday to represent Sri Lanka at the IODA Asian and Oceanian Sailing championship to be held in Mumbai, India from December 14 to December 20.

The team comprising of school children between the ages of 13 to 15 hail from Royal College, S. Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia, Ladies College and Visakha Vidyalaya.

This year’s team has a few firsts. This is the first time Sri Lanka will be fielding four girls at one of the most prestigious sailing tournaments organized by the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA); as well as two pairs of twins -  Tharen and Nikhil Nanayakkara and Kyoshi and Kyasha Samarakkody. 

“We are excited to field four girls this year, a first in Sri Lankan Optimist sailing history,” said Asanka Goonawardena, Convener for Yachting Association of Sri Lanka (YASL). “Hopefully, their participation will encourage other girls’ schools to enter the sailing arena,” he said. 

The young sailors have been training at the Bolgoda Lake as well as the seas including the Naval Base at Crow Island and Mirissa, the girls competing with the boys on equal footing. The hopeful Sri Lankans will compete with over 100 sailors from across the globe.

“I’m excited about going to IODA because it’s a new experience for me, and we’ve been training really hard the past few months,” said 13-year-old Sohanya de Mel, the youngest of the girls. “It’s a fun as well as a relaxing sport, and I’m so happy to be representing Sri Lanka in something I love doing,” she said.

For some of the seasoned sailors, who missed two years of IODA, this will be their last year before moving on to the senior Laser class. 

“This also means we have at least four to five very experienced sailors and we are expecting a Gold or a Silver from this year’s team,” said Krishan Janaka, Sri Lanka’s national coach who is in charge of training the young team. “Sailing is a sport where you need a combination of physical strength, intelligence, quick wit and determination. And this team has been sharpening these skills the past months,” he said.

The team was selected after races conducted in September by YASL, and approved by both the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education. Since then, the 10 sailors have been training consistently under National Coach Janaka, Assistant National Coach Roshil Nishantha, with the support of Sri Lanka’s Olympic Sailor Lalin Jirasinghe and the assistance of YASL and the Sri Lanka Navy. 

Since their selection and rigorous training, the ten young sailors have been doing exceptionally well on the waters. The team’s Yusef Hazari from Royal College and Nithik Senaratne from S. Thomas’s College, Mt Lavinia, won first and second place respectively in the Optimist class at the Mirissa Dr. Nihal Jinesena Memorial Cup held last week.

A total of 101 sailors will participate at this year’s event. The Sri Lankan team will race against sailors from 13 other countries including the USA, Japan, Australia, Mauritius, Malaysia, Thailand, Belgium and host country India.

“All of the young sailors have been training and racing consistently the past few months and we are expecting them to bring a medal back home,” said Goonawardena. “This will also be an opportunity to garner the much-needed interest that the sport deserves.”

Although sailing has been one of the few sports to bring an Asian Games Bronze and Olympic representation in Sri Lanka, it’s development in the island nation has been slow. “Sea training is imperative for this sport to progress, and we are currently exploring setting up a sea-based centre for training,” said Goonawardena.

The championship will kick off on December 14 and will end with a gala closing and award ceremony on December 19, 2022.

This year’s 10-member Sri Lanka team is made up of Yusef Hazari and Minuga Hettigamage from Royal College; Twins Tharen Nanayakkara and Nikhil Nanayakkara, Akash de Simon and Vinuk Senaratne from S. Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia; twins Kyoshi Samarakkody and Kyasha Samarakkody and Sohanya de Mel from Ladies’ College; and Chathuni Marapperuma from Visakha Vidyalaya.

The young Sri Lankans will be involved in a series of 10 races, until the final day, when the final standings will be determined, based on the tabulated points gained throughout the series. The best a Sri Lankan Sailor ever achieved, according to Goonewardena, was the 8th position from 100 boats.

This year’s national champ Yusef Hazari is sponsored by Apurva Garden Teas. “The Navy Commander as well as the Ceylon Motor Yacht Club (CMYC) have been supportive throughout our journey, providing their premises and facilities for training,” said Janaka.

IODA holds world championships as well as regional championships each year and this year’s Asian and Oceanian Championships has attracted the national teams of 14 countries and 101 competitors.