Hussain Sagar Lake to play host to Monsoon Regatta today

Hyderabad: The 14th Monsoon Regatta will witness the participation of top national sailors when this much contested ranking event, as part of the Federation Calendar, gets off to a resounding start at the Hussain Sagar Lake here on Tuesday.

This Monsoon Regatta is special with the introduction of the under 19 International 420 Mixed Class which is essentially an expression of gender parity at the International Olympic Committee level and a reflection of the policies of World Sailing the International Federation.

The Monsoon Regatta Rolling Trophy and the prestigious SH Babu Memorial Trophy for the best sailor without discard are on offer apart from a plethora or medals for both boys and girls.

Top seeds are Dharani Laveti of the Yacht Club of Hyderabad and Vadla Mallesh of the Navy Boy Sports School Goa who recently won the 420 Open event at Hussain Sagar Hyderabad followed by Nancy Rai and crew Aniraj Sendhav of Bhopal

In the under 15 Sub juniors Ekalavya Batham of NSS Bhopal looks unbeatable and is all set to win both trophies. He won the 1st edition of the SH Babu Memorial last year , a trophy that was instituted by Mr.STS Prasad in memory of his father SH Babu and tragically also passed even before he could hand over the trophy in his fathers name to the first winner.

Amongst the girls, the top seeds are local girls from Rasoolpura - Deekshita and Komaravelli and her sister Lahiri both from Udbhav School.

The Monsoon Regatta will be served by an International Jury Chaired by Leonard Chin of Malaysia alongside Ron Yaffe from Israel and Col. Kanwar from India all International judges.

Capt. Abhimanyu Patankar of India will serve as the Chief Umpire for the Team Racing event in the Sub Juniors. The entries are from Bhopal, Mysore, Goa, and Chennai. Majority participants are from Hyderabad. The 14th Monsoon Regatta also features a Green Fleet for beginners.