8th Telangana State Sailing Championships commence 

With a record 131 entries across 15 districts the Telangana State Sailing Championships commence today across 6 categories of sailing.

Organised by the Telangana Sailing Association and hosted the Yacht Club of Hyderabad the state championships are now amongst the biggest in India. 

The Hussain Sagar despite the inclement weather has burst out in colour with boats practicing and training for the coveted State Championship trophies.

Telangana is by far the largest state in terms of both boats and sailors by a huge margin and despite being land locked has produced more than 60 National Champions and about 275 medals across the last 10 years thanks to the stellar efforts of Suheim Sheikh, recently elected as the President of the Telangana Sailing Association.

No other state conducts state-level Championships, and Telangana has become a model for the rest of the country to follow.

“We have introduced the 29er Skiff Class and the 420 Double handers to the state and are proud to say that we have had a record number of entries across categories this year. A lot of effort has been made to identify and groom talent from Telangana and we are focussing on the 2026 Asian Games at China and the LA Olympics,” said Suheim Sheikh 

This year 6 sailors from the guest state of Haryana have arrived and will be participating in the now Open championships.

Hyderabad’s Govardhan Pallara is top seed alongside Rizwan Mohammad amongst boys and Deekshitha and Lahiri Komaravelly the sisters from Rasoolpura are gunning for gold in the Sub Junior Category . Govardhan and Deekshita will sail their last sub juniors in the Optimist Class before moving up into the juniors in bigger boats for the Asian Games trials.

4 of the top 7 National rankers are from Hyderabad and Deekshitha and Govardhan  No.1 and No.2 across gender in the National Sub Junior category.

The Junior class  will see top seed Manya Reddy amongst girls and Shravan Kathrawath amongst boys fight it out to retain top spot.

At stake based on the results is the inclusion in the Telangana team headed for two internationals in Malaysia and Singapore in 2025. 

The State Championships commence today and close on 29th at 4PM. Special Chief Secretary Information Tech, Industry and Sports, Govt of Telangana Shri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS will preside over the awards ceremony alongside Dr.Shantha Sinha, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and erstwhile Chairperson of the National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR).