Omani Olympic hopefuls ready to impress at 49er World Championship

Sports Tuesday 03/December/2019 22:14 PM
By: Times News Service
Omani Olympic hopefuls ready to impress at 49er World Championship

Muscat: The 49er World Championships, which run from 3-8 December in Auckland, will be another stepping stone for Musab Al Hadi and Waleed Al Kindi, who are aiming to make Olympic history.

The 49er World Championships are set to be the biggest test yet for Oman’s Musab Al Hadi and Waleed Al Kindi, who are competing to become the first Omani sailors to qualify for the Olympic Games.

The pair will be up against some of the world’s best over the next six days in Auckland, New Zealand, with the field to include locals and Rio Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke and Oceania Championships winners Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl of Austria.

The World Championships at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club will be a crucial step in the road to Olympic Qualification, with Musab and Waleed will compete for their place in Tokyo in Abu Dhabi in March. And the results have been promising so far for Musab and Waleed; they won gold at last month’s 2019 Asian Championships in Abu Dhabi, and were the second Asian country at the 49er Oceania Championship.

Musab said: “We’ve had a really good training period here in Auckland and the experience gained during the Oceania Championships was invaluable.

“We are feeling really confident ahead of the next few days and our teamwork is getting better and better with every day out on the water. Our goal is to keep learning from our competition and keep building towards our Olympic Qualifiers in March next year.”

After the completion of the World Championships, Musab and Waleed will journey to Geelong, Australia, for the 2020 Oceania Championships in January and the 2020 49er World Championships in February, and then return to the gulf region for the Tokyo decider in Abu Dhabi.

Also representing Oman at the 2019 49er World Championships in Auckland will be Ahmed Al Hasani and Abdulrahman Al Mashari. Both Ahmed and Abdulrahman and Musab and Waleed are part of the elite programme at Oman Sail, which is celebrating its ten-year anniversary.