The Hindu : Sport : A shot in the arm for `Sailability'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 20, 2006

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

A shot in the arm for `Sailability'

HYDERABAD: It was a shot in the arm for Sailability, the 14-nation movement to enable the disabled enjoy the pleasures of competitive and recreational sailing.

Three boats, an Access 2.3, an Access 2.3 Electrified (for paraplegics), a 303 Access Dinghy and four canoes were given customs clearance at Chennai port recently. Also included in the container shipped from Sydney, courtesy Peninsular and Orient (P & O), were a sea crane that slings handicapped sailors into the boat and a trailer to tow the above equipment by road.

This was possible thanks to the good offices of former Olympian and current Executive Director of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), M.P. Ganesh, said C.S. Pradipak, President Elect of Sailability India. He pointed out that the trailer could also accommodate a lightweight motor boat, handy for rescue operations.

Road show

Detailing his plans, he said a leading corporate house had been approached to sponsor a road show that would start at Chennai on January 29. During a media conference the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association would also hold a demonstration for Rotary Club members in the port city.

The arrival in Hyderabad of Alan Jones, Commodore of the Pitwater Sailing Club and Convenor, Sailability, New South Wales on February 8 would provide invaluable guidance to ground the movement in the country.

Efforts are on to approach Dr. Abdul Kalam, President of India, to formally launch Sailability India at Visakhapatnam on February 11 and request him to become its Patron, said Pradipak, an Arjuna Awardee.

The road show would then be staged at Khammam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Hyderabad in a drive to popularise the sport that is striving to establish a foothold in Pakistan, Austria, China, Germany, India, Italy, Croatia and Mexico. Sailability is already thriving in Australia, France, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hungary, Japan, Ireland, USA, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Canada and Great Britain.

Archery team

At Vijayawada, a 17-member Acharya Nararjuna University team for the five-day all-India inter-university archery championship to be held from January 21 to 24 was named.

The teams: Men: FITA round: V. Ravinder, Mangal Singh Champia, Ch. Lenin, B. Sesha Giri, Siva Veeranjaeyulu, T. Sai Babu. Indian round: J. Rama Rao, V. Mallikharjuna Rao, Y. Suresh Raju, J. Ganga Mohan, Sk. Umar Ali Pasha, K. Vamsi Dhar.

Women: Indian round: G. Kiran Kumari, M. Neelima Kumari, M. Sree Lakshmi, K. Sireesha Kumari, M. Jayalakshmi. Coach: Cherukuri Satyanarayana; manager: M. Koteswara Rao.

Sujan, Ratan in team

Vijayawada's I.K. Sujan Kumar and M. Ratan Raju will represent the Andhra State carrom team in the 35th senior National and inter-State championship beginning at Pune on January 20, M.K.V. Prasad, general secretary, Andhra State Carrom Association, said here on Thursday.

There will be another Andhra representative in the championship in the form of umpire S. Madhusudhana Rao.

Kho kho teams

A 24-member Andhra kho kho team would participate in the South Zone sub- junior championship scheduled to be held at Ernakulam from Feb. 3.

The teams: Boys: S. Kiran Kumar, K. Srinivasa Rao, G. Dora Babu, G. Prabhakar, P. Prasad (EG), V. Gopi (Chittoor), R. Nagaraju, V. Suri (Krishna), N. Yelamanda, Kishore Babu (Guntur), Nookaraju (Vizianagaram), D.P. Prasad (Nellore). Girls: P. Vakula Devi, Md. Naseema (Kurnool), Delhi Rani (Chittoor), Nagaveni (Nellore), P. Roja, A. Aswini, Komali, Sujatha (WG), T. Suryakala (EG), A. Sirisha (Guntur), D. Rekhamani (Cuddapah), R. Prasanna (Prakasam).

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