Tarun Bhatia, a 12 standard student of P. Obul Reddy Public School has been selected to represent India in the Laser 4.7 World Sailing Championships 2013 to be held at Lake Balaton Fured in Hungary from July 6 to 13.

The championship is one of the most popular and competitive international sailing meets which usually attracts more than 350 sailors from all over the world. Young Tarun Bhatia began sailing at the tender age of eight years at the Hussainsagar lake inspired by his elder brother and his father Pranav Bhatia, both sailors.

Starting with the Optimist class like many beginners, he has now graduated to sailing the Laser 4.7 Class boats which are a slightly smaller version of the Radial Laser and Standard Laser boats. Tarun has represented India at several championships in the past in the Optimist class.

“The Laser is one of the most popular single-handed boats in the world. It is simple to rig and easy to sail. It also provides very competitive international racing due to the class controls which eliminate differences in hull, sails and equipment. So skill and technique are very important when racing in a Laser,” says Tarun.

Most of the time he practices on his own but sometimes he has been lucky to have as his coach one of India’s most accomplished sailors – Rajesh Choudhary – who himself learned sailing on the waters of the Hussainsagar lake many years ago.

He is a member of the Secunderabad Sailing Club which has produced many champions with the most famous being C.S Pradipak, an Arjuna Award winner.

“Having experienced seniors around me is both an inspiration and a learning experience,” says young Tarun, confident of putting up a good show having already participated in Singapore, Doha and Quingdao (China) international competitions.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Abhijit Sen Gupta / June 29th, 2013