Muscat: Five young sailors from Oman Sail are training ahead of the 2024 Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship in Hong Kong. The event, which began on Sunday at the Clearwater Bay Country Club Marina, brought together over 133 sailors from 19 nations in Asia and Oceania for five days of racing in the Optimist dinghy. Representing Oman will be four male sailors, Khamis al Mashaikhi, Tamim al Balushi, Hasan al Wahaibi, and Firas al Nabhani, and one female sailor, Hadeel al Mushaifri – all high-performing athletes from Oman Sail’s Sailing Schools. The delegation is led by Hashim al Rashdi and coached by Sultan Abdulaziz al Zadjali.
Hashim al Rashdi, Head Coach Performance and Team Leader, said, “This is an exciting opportunity for our sailors to test themselves in a highly competitive fleet of their peers from across the wider region. Optimist is the first racing boat for many, and having an event like this in which to hone their skills at a young age is invaluable for their future careers on the water. We will look to perform at our maximum capacity this week and go into the event hopeful of a positive outcome.”
The Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship comprises two championships, raced concurrently. The Optimist Individual Asian & Oceanian Championship (IAOC) and the Optimist Asian & Oceanian Team Racing Championship (TRAOC).
The individual championship will be raced in a qualifying series followed by a final, while the team event will see four sailors from each team racing together. The 2024 Optimist Asian & Oceanian Championship is organised by the Hong Kong Optimist Dinghy Association along with the Sailing Federation of Hong Kong, China, under the authority of the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA).
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