'Commandant’s Cup Sailing Regatta - 2023’ concludes on successful note
The ‘Commandant’s Cup Sailing Regatta - 2023’ organized for the third time by the Naval and Maritime Academy (NMA), Trincomalee concluded on a successful note today (11th January 2023). Commenced on 09th January, the Sailing Regatta was held in the inner harbour sea area of Trincomalee. The prize awarding ceremony of the competition was held at the Commander Shanthi Bahar Memorial Sailing Club, under the patronage of Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera.
The Sailing Regatta was held over 03 days and the conduct of the event was well supported by the Yachting Association of Sri Lanka – YASL. The tournament was held under four categories namely ILCA 6 (Laser Class), Enterprise, Open Champion and Cup Champion and 27 officer under trainees from Naval Academies in China, India, Italy, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka took part.
In the ILCA 6 (Laser Class), Officer Cadet Gianpaolo Gusella of Italy (gold), Officer Cadet Dai Wenbo of China (silver) and Officer Cadet Varad C Haridas of India (bronze) won respective medals for first 03 positions.
In the Enterprise Class, Officer Cadet PPK Reddy and Officer Cadet GY Reddy of India won the gold medal. Its silver medal was won by Officer Cadet Mario Giacummo and Officer Cadet Francesco Maria Gigante of Italy. Meanwhile, Sub Lieutenant VPA Sasanka and Sub Lieutenant WMDAK Rathnayake of Sri Lanka won the bronze medal.
Officer Cadet Mario Giacummo, Officer Cadet Francesco Maria Gigante and Officer Cadet Gianpaolo Gusella of Italy clinched the gold medal in the Open Champion. The event’s silver medal was secured by Officer Cadet PPK Reddy, Officer Cadet GY Reddy and Officer Cadet Varad C Haridas representing India. Its bronze medal was won by Officer Cadet Dai Wenbo of China.
The gold medal in the Cup Champion was secured by Officer Cadet PPK Reddy, Officer Cadet GY Reddy and Officer Cadet Varad C Haridas of India. The silver medal of the event was won by Officer Cadet Chen Lei, Officer Cadet Tian Chen and Officer Cadet Dai Wenbo of China. In the meantime, Sub Lieutenant VPA Sasanka, Sub Lieutenant WMDAK Rathnayake and Sub Lieutenant AHGC De Silva of Sri Lanka won the bronze medal.
Addressing the gathering, Commander of the Navy at the outset expressed his profound gratitude to the foreign Naval Academies and congratulated the winners. Adding further, he said that this form of competition is a way of testing each other’s tactics and capabilities as well as lift one’s standard in the spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship.
In his address, Commander of the Navy heaped praise on former Commander of the Navy and Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne (Rtd) for establishing facilities for sailing in the Naval Dockyard and was grateful to Commodore Kalana Jinadasa (Rtd) for mooting the idea of Commandant’s Cup Sailing Regatta.
Commander of the Navy also brought forward the idea of using the facilities at the Naval Dockyard for the promotion of sailing tourism and other water sports, in line with the government initiatives to promote the tourism industry. Finally, he appreciated the role played by the Commandant NMA and his able staff for organising a colourful event and expressed the hopefulness in organising an event with more participants and events next time.
On this occasion, Commandant NMA Commodore Damian Fernando presented mementoes to the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera and Commodore Kalana Jinadasa (Rtd), a former Commandant of NMA. In addition, the members of YASL were olso presented mementoes appreciative of their support.
