49er World Championships sailing: Varun Thakkar, KC Ganapathy climb to 22nd after three final races
The Indian sailors had dropped down to 24th after the qualification races. There are six more final races remaining.
Indian sailors Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy climbed to the 22nd position after the first three final races in the 49er class at the 49er and 49erFX world championships 2021 in Oman on Friday.
In the finals, the newly crowned Asian champions were drawn in the ‘gold fleet,’ comprising the top 25 teams from the qualifiers.
Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy finished 24th, 15th and 11th in the first three of the nine final races at the Barcelo Mussanah Resort. However, they discarded their worst result of 24 to end with a net total of 120.
Earlier, the Thakkar-Ganapathy pair was 24th at the end of nine qualifying races, with a net total of 79.
Meanwhile, the second Indian sailing team, featuring Prince Noble and Manu Francis, also improved their ranking, moving to 30th from 33rd in the qualifications.
They finished second, third and ninth in the silver fleet, which comprises the remaining 11 teams that are sailing for classification, taking their net total to 122.
However, Anand Thakur and Satyam Rangad, were last in the 36-boat fleet, with a net score of 144.
Bart Lambriex and Floris van der Werken of the Netherlands maintained their position at the top of the table with a net total of 52.
There are three more final races scheduled on Saturday and Sunday each.
Meanwhile, in the 49erFX class, India’s Harshita Tomar and Sweta Shervegar sit 21st after 12 rounds of racing. They also have six more races slated on the weekend.