(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman's young sailors concluded the sixth GCC Championship in Doha, Qatar on Saturday with an impressive set of results, including a team racing gold medal and podium places in several events.
The four-day competition, organised by the Qatar Sailing & Rowing Federation with the Doha Sailing Club, was open to all sailors from the GCC and witnessed races in the Optimist, Laser 4.7, Laser Radial, Laser Standard (men), and Hobie 16 categories.
The Omanis were dominant in Optimist racing with Ahmed al Mujaini taking gold ahead of Kuwait's Abdulaziz al Saib with a three-point margin.
Fellow Omani sailor Mansoor al Mahrooqi finished third and compatriot Ahmed al Wahaibi took fourth place.
The Laser 4.7 class race was also closely contested with Qatar's Saleh Telfat managing to narrowly beat Oman's Khamis al Wahaibi on tie-breaker. Khamis was also part of the gold medal-winning Optimist team on day one, before taking silver after switching to fleet racing.
Khamis is also taking part in the upcoming ISAF Youth World Sailing Championship in Tavira, Portugal from July 12-19.
Seventeen year old Omani sailor Taimoor al Hassani finished fifth in the Laser Radial class, which was won by Qatar's Faris al Bakri ahead of Kuwait's Ali Bhamad.
The sibling team of Akram al Wahaibi and Aziz al Wahaibi topped off a successful regatta for Omani sailors after being adjudged the overall winner in the Hobie 16 fleet.
Aziz is a member of the youth team preparing for the SL 16 (multihull) at the ISAF youth worlds. His brother is a coach at The Wave Sailing School, and a former multihull sailor.
Commenting on the performance of the team, Abdulaziz al Shidi, Oman Sail's youth programme co-ordinator, said, ''All the hard work the sailors have put in over the winter months at the training camp seems to have paid off. They have progressed a lot since last year and I am impressed with what they have achieved here. There is still a long way to go. We haven't had a perfect scoreline yet, but we are getting close to it.''
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