MUSCAT: Oman finished in third place overall at the International Süleymanpaşa Optimist Cup in Tekirdağ, Türkiye. In a competition dominated by sailors from the host nation, winners of the Country Cup, and neighbouring Bulgaria who finished as runners up, Oman Sail’s team competed well and Mohsin Al Busaidi, Head of Performance, took away many positives from the experience.
Competition featured two categories. One for sailors under the age of 10, and one for sailors aged 10-18 years. In the Junior competition Silver fleet, Habib bin Aziz al Hassani finished 48th out of 75, and one of just three non-Turkish sailors in the top 50. Harib bin Mohsin al Busaidy finished 13th in the Bronze fleet out of 75 and the only visiting sailor in the race.
The Senior competition Gold fleet featured 66 sailors, the vast majority of whom were from the host nation. Oman Sail’s five competitors showed promise but were left trailing by the more experienced Turkish and Bulgarian sailors. Tameem bin Sulaiman al Balushi was the highest ranked Omani sailor in 25th place, followed by Feras bin Haitham al Nabhani in 46th, Abdul Rahman bin Khalid Al Hadi in 50th, Hassan bin Nasser Al Wahaibi in 52nd and Saud bin Talib al Shaqsi in 62nd.
The Silver fleet comprised 65 sailors, including 58 from across Türkiye. Hassan bin Mohsin al Oraimi led the Omani team in 22nd place, followed by Khamis bin Nasser al Mashaikhi in 26th. The two female sailors in the team Tarteel bint Zaid al Hassaniyah and Hadeel bint Yousuf al Mushafriyah finished in 43rd place and 60th place respectively.
Mohsin al Busaidy, Oman Sail Head of Performance, said, “This was a tough challenge against sailors far more experienced and familiar with the environment, but that provides opportunities for our team to learn and that is our goal at this stage. The more exposure our team receives, the better they will become and by racing against their peers from other nations we are able to incorporate real-life scenarios into training. We would always like to rank as high as possible, but the long-term goal is to develop the sailors and events like this serve as short-term progress checks for the whole team.”
Held at the Tekirdağ Sailing Club on northern coast of Türkiye’s Sea of Marmara, the competition featured over 400 sailors from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Kuwait, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as hosts Türkiye and Oman.
The team was led by Ghalib al Mamari, sailing coach at Oman Sail, and supported by coach Sultan al Zadjali and assistants Jasim al Harbi and Hajir al Amrani.
The Optimist team will return to Türkiye in next month for the 11th Erk Çelik Halat Bodrum International Optimist Regatta in Bodrum from 10-15 October. They will then compete on home waters at the Mussanah Race Week from 18-24 October before heading to Abu Dhabi for the 2023 IODA Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship from 29 October to 5 November.
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