Hyderabad: Hyderabad's sailor Alekhya Coondoo won the Gold medal in the 420 class Sailing competition at YAI Youth Multi Class Sailing & Kiteboard Championship 2022 (National Ranking Event) held at the Krishnarajsagar Dam on the Cauvery River in Mandya Karnataka.  The championships were held from August 7 to 13, 2022 and concluded yesterday. The event was organized by Trishna Sailing Club, The Madras Sappers and General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure Under the Aegis of The Yachting Association of India
The venue for the event was the pristine waters of the Cauvery river with challenging conditions giving the sailors the opportunity to showcase their talents. The wind speeds were 25 knots (~ 46 kmph) gusting to 30 knots with large waves and intermittent rains, sunny and cloudy skies. There were a total of 12 races in each class over 4 days.
Alekhya represented the Secunderabad Sailing Club and partnered with Kartik Chakali of the Navy Boys Sailing School (Goa) both hailing from Telangana. They were coached by Brijraj Verma of the Indian Navy Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC), Mumbai who has won numerous awards and represented India at International Sailing Championships.
Alekhya was introduced to Sailing by her mentor and coach Arjun Pradipak who is an accomplished sailor and has also represented India at the Asian games. Alekhya has been sailing since 2016 and has sailed the Optimist, Laser, and is now sailing the 420 class, a double-hander. The 420 class is the most popular class for competitive collegiate sailing across Europe and the US and is now getting popular in India. It is a stepping stone to the larger 470 class events in the Asian games and Olympic games. Alekhya hopes to represent India at the worlds 420 class championship.
A student of the Hyderabad Public School (Ramanthapur) Alekhya scored 94% in her ICSE board exam and is preparing for the NEET to pursue a career in medicine. She enjoys swimming and playing the guitar in her spare time.

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