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Indian sailors finish with a wooden spoon
The eminently forgettable Indian sailors Malav Shroff and Sumeet Patel finally came to and end with the duo finishing a distant 19th from a fleet containing as many boats.
The eminently forgettable and morale-lowering show of Indian sailors Malav Shroff and Sumeet Patel finally came to and end in the Olympic Games on Thursday with the duo earning the dubious distinction of finishing a distant 19th from a fleet containing as many boats.
The depressing voyage to nowhere in mostly light wind conditions of the US-based wild card entrants right through the 16-race competition showed in clear terms the folly of sending the pair to fight in the 49er (Double handed dinghy open) class without looking at their credentials, that included a world ranking of 129.
Why their entries were sent to the Athens organisers by the Indian Olympic Association against the express wish of the apex body for the sport in the country, Yachting Association of India, would remain another unexplained chapter in the sorry and sordid Indian story at these Games.
The duo of Shroff and Patel gathered an overall penalty tally of 292 gross and 253 net after two discards to end up as many as 63 points behind their closest rivals, Poles Krzysztof Kierkowski and Marcin Czajkowski.
The tally was also a whopping 86 behind gold medallists, Spanish Spaniards Iker Martinez and Xavier Fernandez.
It was an expected end to their hopeless campaign and hardly caused a ripple in the Indian camp whose sagging spirits had been lifted considerably by long jumper Anju Bobby George with her leap into the women's final last night.
