After flying in to Oman from around the world 150 young champions representing 20 countries are busy forging life-long bonds before racing gets underway on Wednesday.

The week-long event at the Musannah Sports City combines coaching sessions with racing making it a useful platform for the participants to interact and exchange knowledge with their counterparts.

In a series of personal development exercises designed to introduce them to the challenging environment at the Musannah Sports City young Omani sailors are being encouraged to undergo physical exercises before the competition kicks off. The focus on personal development is an essential part of the MRW experience according to Salma al Hashmi Oman Sail's event and marketing director.

'Since it was launched in 2011 we have seen a big growth in the number of sailors taking part the number of countries and classes' said Salma.

'In past years we have focused on Optimists but we are delighted to have added the Laser 4.7 and Laser Radials in 2016 and hope to add more in future years.

'Many of these young sailors could go on to be Olympic champions and it is great to think that Musannah will have played a part in their success.'

In all there are 104 Optimist sailors including Jodie Lai from Singapore the world's best woman Optimist sailor who came second in the Optimist World Championships in Poland last September Norway's Mathias Berthet who won the bronze medal and Dante Cittadini from Argentina who finished fourth in Poland.

They will compete in an Optimist fleet that will be split into gold and silver divisions with three races staged every day. Oman is well represented with 28 Optimist sailors drawn from the Oman Sail Youth Programme and the four sailing schools across the country.

They include Al Motasem al Farsi who won the best U12 prize last year and the talented Mohammed al Qasmi. In addition there will be 26 competitors in the Laser 4.7 fleet including 13 Omanis and 21 in the Laser Radials four of them representing Oman.