|
 The
Secunderabad Sailing Club has the distinction of
giving top sailors to India. Take for instance RS
Pradeepak - a bronze medallist at the Asian games,
Sanjeev Sidhu - also a medallist in Asian games,
Major Gautam Dutta - who represented India in
the Asian Yachting Championship at South Korea
in 1985 and Rahul Rastogi - the famous wind surfer.
All of them have one thing in common. They were all
trained by Mohammad Abdul Salaam at the Secunderabad
Sailing Club.
Abdul joined the Secunderabad Sailing Club in1964 and
since then has been coaching sailing enthusiasts. He
has been visiting various places as a coach for water
sports events and has the honour of being invited by
the special organising committee at the IX Asian
games held in 1982 at New Delhi.
 Abdul's
whole family was in the sailing field for more than
100 years. His grandfather Khasim was the first
to start boating in the Hussain Sagar lake. He
did this in 1958 with the help of two rowing boats Agho
and Jono. And in 1908, during the devastating
Moosi floods, he rescued 200 trapped British
residents from the Residency in Kothi. As
a token of appreciation the Secunderabad Sailing Club
named a boat after him.
After grand father Khasim's death, Abdul's father Mohammad
Miya and his elder brother Hassan coached
the sailors. Abdul and Hassan have the distinction of
training A A Basith, the first Hyderabadi to
participate in the Olympics Yachting championship in
1972 along with Soly Contractor, India's top
sailor.
 Abdul
who has been training since 33 years says, 'sailing
mainly depends on the wind direction'. Taking this
direction as the datum, Abdul says 'At 45 degrees
keeping the boat balanced is of prime importance but
at 90 degrees the sailing is rendered smooth and easy'.
A man with much experience and a long service, Abdul
feels sad when sailors he has trained "forget
[him] once they reach the top." But he is happy about
the city sailors who have been consistently making the
mark at the National Regatta. He is also proud of the
fact that he could make the Secunderabad Sailing Club
the first in India to have girl sailors. He is sure
that there is a tremendous potential among the city
lads. And watching the exceptionally good showing of
the city lads at various national and Asian level events
one cannot but agree with Abdul.
Address: Secunderabad Sailing Club,
Sailing Annexe. 500 009.
Phone: 770 4840, 820 381
|
