Indian sailors clinch silver

Asian match racing champions India lost to strong contenders Singapore 1-3 in the final of the 7.5 Beneteau keel boat class in the Asian Games yachting regatta and secured the silver medal, at the Doha Sailing Club on Wednesday.

India lost the opening race in the one-on-one contest and then clinched the second race in the best-of-five contest to raise visions of a gold medal.

But the South-East Asian country came storming back to win back-to-back races in the next two to clinch the gold medal in the event, introduced for the first time in the Asiad.

The Indian squad comprised Ramachandran Mahesh at the helm and crew Sanjeev Chauhan, Girdhari Yadav and Nitin Mongia.

India and Singapore had topped the preliminary league with the same number of points but the latter were ranked higher on the basis of having beaten India in the round-robin phase leading to the semis in which India defeated Thailand 3-1 and Singapore got past Korea 3-0 on Tuesday.

The bronze medal was won by Korea who beat Thailand 2-0 in the play-off.

India, however, failed to get a medal in the 470 class event for men, an Olympic category, when its experienced sailors Farokh Tarapore and Vikas Kapila finished fifth overall with 44 net penalty points despite finishing third in today's 12th and last race.

The gold was won by the Korean duo of Kim Daeyoung and Jung Sungahn while Singapore and Japan took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The Philippines took the fourth spot with 41 net penalty points.

India's only other medal in the regatta in which they took part in five events, a bronze, was clinched yesterday by 33-year-old Army sailor Rajesh Choudhary in the Laser Radial event.