Oman’s top five Optimist sailors have been pitting against the best young sailors in the world at the 2015 Optimist World Championships in Dziwnow, Poland, which started last Wednesday and is scheduled untill September 4th. With 275 competitors from 85 countries, the two-week challenge offer competitors the opportunity to hone their skills on and off the water with competitive racing, social events and technical workshops.
Oman’s National Optimist Squad, all members of Oman Sail’s National Youth Programme sponsored Omantel and Oman Shipping Company, was selected after a series of trials and training camps and comprises Zakhariya Al Wahabi, two times national Optimist champion and Marwan Al Jabri. Samiha Al Riyami, currently the only girl in the Omani squad and the youngest ever athlete to represent the Sultanate at the Asian Games in Korea last year will compete against 54 other girls after 38 of the 58 competing countries fielded female talent. Jihad Al Hasani, just 11 years old and the smallest athlete of the 290 sailors attending the event and Al Motasem Al Farsi are also looking to measure progress alongside some of the most talented emerging sailors in the world.
“This is a benchmark event for us which will give us the chance to see where we stand compared to the rest of the world,” commented Marina Psichogiou, Oman Sail’s Youth Programme Manager who is attending with AbdulAziz Al Shidi, Oman’s Optimist National Coach. “We have been here for a week now and we are happy with how the team is settling in. The training has gone well – conditions were similar to the ones we had at our training camp in Greece in June. Quite windy, with big waves but it is colder here.
The team were in a practice day last Wednesday to get familiar with the winds and conditions. Racing started on Friday and was followed by two more days of Championship fleet races. With such a big international contingent, the prospect of winning medals is small for the talented Omani youngsters but with a qualifying series of 12 races, with each individual racing in every race, it is an opportunity to put performances and programmes into perspective, explained Psichogiou.
“This is the first Optimist World Championships for Oman and we look like a professional team and have been complimented on how well organised we are and what a great development programme Oman Sail is running. We are certainly different to the other teams with a different approach but we have never been here before so it is very hard to say where we will end up. We will not be last.”
The Team Racing Championships will be on August 30th until 31st followed by another series of Championship fleet races. The finals will be held on Friday September 4th and will be followed by a closing and prize-giving ceremony.
