African Sailing Championship: Mozambique ends on top

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African Sailing Championship: Mozambique ends on top

12:57 CAT | 12 Dec 2016

Noticias

Mozambique dominated the African Sailing Championship which finished on Saturday at Costa do Sol beach, scooping six medals, the highest number of any team.

Three gold medals, one silver and two bronze stayed in Mozambique, in an event that brought together 75 yachtsmen from South Africa, Angola, Seychelles, Algeria, Tunisia and Mozambique. South Africa came second with one gold and two silver, followed by Angola with one gold and one silver.

Of the 23 Mozambican sailors who took part in the championship, Deurrik Mavimbe, Maria Mabjaia and Deizy Nhaquile took the podium to Mozambique’s credit with one gold medal each.

Deurrik Mavimbe stood out in the Laser 4.7 group of 16 absolute classification (male and female) sailors, ahead of compatriot Deizy Nhaquile and Tunisian Rami Ridene.

In addition to silver, Deizy Nhaquile also took the gold medal in the individual classification, ahead of the other female competitors in that class. The silver and bronze medals of the African Championships went to Chantal Hoffman of the Seychelles Islands and Lachecheb Santa Fátima of Algeria respectively.

Maria Mabjaia, one of the Mozambican competitors in the Maputo African Games, took the third gold medal in the Laser Radial individual classification, beating Algerians Akil Nouha and Hammiche Lamia Feriel.

The remaining medals (bronze) were won by Velik Manhiça and the Diogo Sanches-Doncaro Bira Jr. duo in the Laser Radial and 420 classes respectively. Velik Manhiça came in third in a competition dominated by South Africans Asenathi Jim and Calvin Gribbs. The Sanches-Bira duo had already shared the podium with the Angolan pairs Jeremias de Sousa-José Manasseis and Paulo Sena-Francisco Kilombo.

The event also included the Laser Standard class, in which Mozambique participated in the person of Ezequiel Chachine, who failed to place. This class had no female competitors.

At the end of yet another week-long continental championship, Mozambique was proud to prove once again that it has the talents for the sport. The dream of the Mozambican sailors who left this championship medalists is to participate in international competition, in particular the next Olympics.

The timing of the championships did not allow the winners to compete for vacancies at the World Cup, which, according to the secretary general of the Mozambican Sailing And Canoeing Federation, Hélio da Rosa, is already taking place in New Zealand.

Deisy Nhaquile, gold and silver medal – I’m very happy

The youngest of the Mozambican gold medalists is Deisy Nhaquile, celebrating her fifth title at this level.

“I’m very happy to have won. This is the fifth time I’ve been an African champion and I am very proud of it. I have been African champion in South Africa, Tanzania, Morocco and Algeria, and my expectation in terms of the future is also to win in the world championships and go on to the Olympics,” she said.

Asked to comment on the championship, the youngest African champion said: “Tunisia, Algeria and Seychelles were all strong, so it was difficult, and that’s why we are so satisfied.”

Maria Mabjaia, winner in the Radial Laser class – It took a lot of effort

Maria Mabjaia also celebrated gold after five years of sailing, adding to her titles in the Maputo 2011 African Games and African Championship in Cape Town in the “Optimist” class, now the most advanced Radial Laser.

Asked how it was possible to finish first in a championship that had a combination of hot days and bad weather, the Mozambican sailor said that it took a lot of effort and sacrifice.

“Because of my dedication to sailing, I have once again become an African champion. These were very hard days, because we were facing very strong winds and we were not used to it. The opponents were also very strong but with training everything is possible and I got the gold medal, ” she said. The championships were very good fun in general, she added.

Deurry Mavimbe, Laser 4.7 class champion – Difficult but successful victory

This is the first time Deurry Mavimbe has secured such a feat in the 4.7 Laser class. “It was well done but difficult, because we had high-level competition from Tunisia, Algeria and Seychelles,” he said.

As for the randomness of the weather, especially in the final days of the races, “it was not so difficult because we were cautious – with preparation, everything is easier,” he explained, adding that much work remained to be done to compete in the upcoming Olympics.

Source: Noticias