Muscat – March 26, 2014 – Four talented young Omani sailors representing Oman Sail’s Omantel Youth Development Programme will have their skills put to the test when they line up at the International Optimist Dinghy Association Asian Championships 2014 at Al Jazaeer Beach in Bahrain later this week.
The boys Salim Al Alawi, Zakariya Al Wahaibi, Marwan Al Jabri and Laith Al Mahrouki are aged between 12 and 14 and all show considerable potential in the class. Although Al Mahrouki has never participated at an international event before, the others have proved competitive at regional GCC championships and at IODA Africa over the past two years.
IODA Asia will raise competition standards to a new level since it plays host to some of the best Optimist sailors in the world after a new generation of sailors from Singapore, Malaysia, China and Thailand started to dominate world competition, taking over from the South American nations.
This is the first time Oman will have participated in the IODA Asian championships and according to Oman Sail youth pathway coach Abdul Aziz Al Shidi, it will be good experience for them and a valuable opportunity for the coaches to measure the boy’s progress.
“They have done a lot of training and we hope that will be evident at these championships,” he said.
“The competition will be high but if we get a mid-fleet finish by one of our sailors we will be very happy with that result.
“We have been working with them regularly and believe this team will both have a good future in the class and lift the level of the whole Optimist fleet within Oman.”
The Optimist class has famously been breeding ground for the most top level international sailors who start their careers in these 2.3m fibreglass one design race boats and can continue until they are aged 15.
The most successful sailor in Olympic history and one of the most famous sailors in the world, Sir Ben Ainslie, started his career in an ‘Oppie’ and recently visited the Omani youth squad at their last training camp at The Wave Muscat, when he was competing in the Extreme Sailing Series. Speaking of the youth sailors he said, “I really enjoyed meeting some of the local Optimist sailors at Oman Sail this morning. It’s great to see so much passion and enthusiasm for the sport at such a young age and I hope I have managed to encourage them some more."
Racing gets underway on Monday March 31 with the fleet of 131 competitors set to race a total of 10 races over five days with a maximum of three on any one day. Prize giving will take place at the Bahrain Maritime Sports Association on Saturday April 5.
