Tarapore’s top-seeded sailing team is apprehensive of racing in J88 boats at Asiad instead of J24 they are used to.
With barely a fortnight left for the sailing event at the Asian Games in Guangzhou to begin, two-time world champion Farokh Tarapore cuts a relaxed and confident figure after a day of racing. The 50-year-old and his sailing team comprising of Atool Sinha, Shekhar Yadav, Trunal Helegaonkar and Balraj Singh will represent India in the match race at the Games.
When asked about their preparations for the Asiad he was cautious, “We have done as much as we can in terms of preparation, but the only problem is that for the races in China we will be racing in J88 boats instead of J24 which we use over here.”
When quizzed on how much of a difference this would make, he explained with an analogy. “It’s like if you go for a shooting competition and say that you will be given pistols only when you reach the venue and it is a rifle instead of a pistol,” said Tarapore.
As the J88 boats are not available in the country, the team travelled abroad to train and try and get some practice ahead of the Games. They made a five-day trip on their own to Helsinki and a two-week trip to UK.
On India’s medal prospects he was quick to say, “We are seeded No 1. The higher you are ranked the more the expectations but I think seedings don’t matter at such events. So we are confident but not overconfident.”
The sailing teams are scheduled to leave for China on November 4 to practice at the Shanwei Water Sports Center in Honghai Bay. Farokh was unhappy saying, “We won’t have access to the boats till the practice days, which is three days before the event. Personally, I feel there is no point of going so early if we don’t have access to the boats.”
Farokh and his team, who are also competing in the Mumbai International Match Race at Chowpatty had a rather good day on Monday and are currently in second place. They won four of their five races.
“Our results here today has been good, I can’t complain about four wins from five races. But we lost by barely an inch to Olly (Pekka), which we were leading for most of the way,” he added.
At the end of Day One, Finland’s Pekka took the early lead after a perfect five wins out of five races. He signed off with his motto saying, “I race one day at a time and don’t look at winning or losing. For me all I want to do is improve and do better the next day.”
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