Sailors Sails Towards Victory

Asian and Oceanian championship 2018 was being held at Ngwe Saung Yacht Club and Resort in Myanmar from 11 November to 17 November. The event energized with enthusiastic and strong participants, leading it to complete 9 races in total.There were 129 participants from 16 nations overall.

Bronze medallist at 2018 Optimist World Championship, Panwa Boonak secured first place in all the three races he participated. It was assumed earlier that Jedtavee Yong yuennarn would win as he was leading after the qualifying series. But hesecured second place after being black flagged in the first race of finals andlater crossing the victory line after Boonak at last.

SeanSun from New Zealand (16th place overall), Noah Maplot (25th) and Joel Beashelfrom Australia(28th) acquired the title of being top three sailors from Oceania. While Htet Lin Zaw was remarked as the top sailor from Myanmar, Boonak,Siri and Hongyu were the top three sailors from Asia.

GangSiri stood top among girls in the championship. She secured the third positionoverall. Zheng Hongyu stood fourth, next to Siri while Patithan Vorrasart and Chalisa Krittanai from Thailand secured fifth and sixth overall respectively,being secured second and third places in the championship. There was also a strong competitor from Singapore, Faith Hailey Toh who stood ninth.

Though Cyclone Gajaseemed to interrupt the contest, gradually the rain had settled and the wind got smooth for the sailors. Hence, the event ended pretty well, peacefully. It was glorified with joyful entertainment and beautiful fireworks at the closing ceremony. Kevin Whitcraft took the lead to successfully close the championship,after which the flag ceremony took place in which host team Myanmar passed the flag to upcoming host team Oman. It is only to see how this victory will sail itself for the future.