Ajay Rau to compete in World championship

Chennai, Nov 22 (UNI) Promising Indian Sailor Ajay Rau has booked a place in the next year's World Sailing championship to be held in Sydney in February.

The World Championships are a restricted event for 150 of the world's best sailors in laser sailing.

This will be Ajay's first world championship in the Olympic Class. The meet is also the second and final round of trials for Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 with ten country slots up for grabs.

An official release here today said Ajay has been training for over a month at the sail base in Les Embiez, a private island south of France, under the watchful eyes of 2004 Olympics Sailor Geidruis Lithuania and Philp, the Belgium Olympic Coach.

Ajay has been working with them since March this year and has developed a strong and positive relationship which has made him a stronger athlete.

He has one more month of training in Les Embiez before he starts racing in three events--one in Spain and two in Australia--before taking part in his debut World Championship.

These three championships would be helpful in preparing for the World meet, which was by far the toughest sailing event in the world, ranked tougher than the Olympics.

This is just the beginning for young Ajay Rau's long campaign in quest of an Olympic berth.

''This is a dream come true, now its time to stop dreaming and get down to business'', says the young Indian Champion.

UNI