Abu Dhabi delivered beautiful conditions on Day One of the first Asian 49er and 49erFX Championships. In other words, the sunny skies and 09-knot north westerly breeze on a manageable swell was a similar version of what the competitors might expect at Abu Dhabi for the next year’s Tokyo 2020 Continental qualifier scheduled here during 15 – 22 March 2020.  

Akira Sakai and Russel Aylsworth (HKG) became contenders as the 2019 Asian 49er Champions. The young Hong Kong sailors, who lost out at the 2018 Asian Games, today showed how they are contenders with the Asia’s best. 

The duo started well in the first race, and couldn’t be reeled in, taking victories in two races. In the second and fourth races of the day, they started poorly but moved up throughout the race gaining on every leg.

Among the two teams chasing them are the Musab Al Hadi and Waleed Al Kindi (OMA) and Ding Mingling and Liu Tian (CHN). Holding their leading position won’t be easy, but today was a great way for a young team to make a mark.

It’s far too soon to suggest that it might be turning into a three way race between the Hong Kong, Oman and the Chinese teams, although they have carved out a useful 10-point buffer with the fourth placed Indian team of Sandip Jain and Munna Pandit who scored 5,4,7 and 5 from the day. 

A lead of a few points can vanish in a blink of the eye, and with the breeze set to harden further as the week progresses, a different set of skills could come into play. The first Asian 49er and 49erFX Championship is shaping up to become a true all-round test of 49er racing.

Results

Results are provisional as of 15:18 on November 6, 2019

49er 
 
Sailed: 4, Discards: 0, To count: 4, Entries: 15, Scoring system: Appendix A
Rank    Nat    SailNo    HelmName    CrewName    R1    R2    R3    R4    Total    Nett
1st    HKG    880    Akira Sakai    Russell Aylsworth    1.0    3.0    1.0    4.0    9.0    9.0
2nd    OMA    145    Musab Al Hadi    Waleed Al Kindi    2.0    1.0    5.0    3.0    11.0    11.0
3rd    CHN    2    Ding Mingling    Liu Tian    3.0    2.0    4.0    2.0    11.0    11.0
4th    IND    104    Sandip Jain    Munna Pandit    5.0    4.0    7.0    5.0    21.0    21.0
5th    CHN    1    Mingcheng Ding    Li Maokui    6.0    8.0    2.0    8.0    24.0    24.0
6th    IND    780    Brijraj Verma    Pankaj Kumar    9.0    5.0    3.0    7.0    24.0    24.0
7th    IND    316    Ganapathy Kelapanda Chengappa    Varun Thakkar    8.0    9.0    9.0    1.0    27.0    27.0
8th    IND    739    Aanand Thakur    Vishal Thakur    4.0    6.0    10.0    10.0    30.0    30.0
9th    OMA    173    Ahmed Al Hasani    Abdulrahman Al Mashari    7.0    10.0    8.0    6.0    31.0    31.0
10th    IND    627    Narendra Singh Rajput    Sakthivel Sekar    10.0    7.0    6.0    9.0    32.0    32.0
11th    CHN    247    Xin Wang    Chao Xiang    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    64.0    64.0
11th    CHN    251    Wei Hong    Tao Zhang    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    64.0    64.0
11th    CHN    499    Zaiding Wen    Zhibo Zhou    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    64.0    64.0
11th    CHN    94    Jian Xiang    Youjian Wen    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    64.0    64.0
11th    CHN    99    Yong Chen    Feng Fu    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    16.0 DNC    64.0    64.0
49er FX 
 
Sailed: 4, Discards: 0, To count: 4, Entries: 3, Scoring system: Appendix A
 
Rank    Nat    SailNo    HelmName    CrewName    R1    R2    R3    R4    Total    Nett
1st    CHN    2    Shang Zitong    Tong Zu    1.0    1.0    1.0    1.0    4.0    4.0
2nd    CHN    1    Xiaoyu Hu    Su Sha    2.0    2.0    2.0    2.0    8.0    8.0
3rd    CHN    288    Huijia Yu    Ye Jin    4.0 DNC    4.0 DNC    4.0 DNC    4.0 DNC    16.0    16.0 

Photo Credits: 49er & 49erFX Asian Championship