HYDERABAD, July 29: Maintaining his winning streak in the Doshi Ford National Laser Class Inland Sailing Championship, former champion Nitin Mongia moved into a commanding position from where he should regain the title with consummate ease.

Extending his mastery over the conditions on the Hussain Sagar Lake in winds higher than normal, the Naval Sailing Club sailor won the third race with ease, today.

As his friend and arch-rival Mahesh said, ``there was not much of a challenge for Mongia in the wind conditions that always gusted upto 15 knots. Nitin, who is heavier, always sails better in such conditions.''

Mongia led from the start though Mahesh narrowed the gap towards the end of the second leg.

The other positions in the race were provisional as Gautam Dutta, who rescued Rajesh Mirajkar (Royal Madras Yatch Club) after the latter had sought help when his boat capsized, finished fourth appeal for a redressal of his position to the race committee. Dutta was in the second position when he decided to help Mirajkar. A decision on Dutta's appeal will be taken tomorrow after considering the witnesses' account of the incidence.Second win for Choudhary: Rajesh Choudhary posted his second win in the Laser Radials when the youngster won by a fair distance. In this race too, the fight was for the third and fourth positions. Tirumal Rao, who suffered a capsize at the start, had moved up to the third position by the time the boats rounded the leeward mark. Jagdish, however, pipped him at the post to take the third spot in a tight finish.

Tirumal Rao, who had lodged a protest against Jagdish Singh yesterday, lost it and was placed fourth in the second race.

RESULTS

Laser Standard: 1 Nitin Mongia, 2 R Mahesh (both NSC, Mimbai), 3 Anirudh Vijay Kumar (SSC), 4 Gautam Dutta (EMESA), 5 S Sandeep Srinath (RYMC), 6 Ram Kumar (CESE).
Laser Radials: 1 Rajesh Choudhary (EMESA), 2 Dinesh Boorugula (SSC), 3 Brig Jagdish Singh (EMESA), 4 Tirumal Rao, 5 Ashwin Chouhan, 6 Boorugula Sri Nagesh (all SSC).
Enterprise: 1 Drona Narayan-Mahesh, 2 Navaz Currimbhoy-Natasha, 3 Dharmender Singh-AK Das, 4 RK Patil-Harbhajan Singh.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.