Varsha Gautham is 16-years-old whilst Aishwarya Chezhiyan is 18 and the pair are using the World Cup Final to hone in their racing skills and promote the sport back home, "India has not exactly been on the world sailing map in the past," said Chezhiyan, "but hopefully we'll put a pin on it very soon. The short term goal is the Rio 2016 Olympics and the long term goal is Tokyo 2020."
Varsha Gautham and Aishwarya Chezhiyan are up against a strong 49erFX fleet in Abu Dhabi that features 2013 World Champions Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) and Spanish Olympic gold medallist Tamara Echegoyen who is sailing with Berta Betanzos.
With such distinguished accolades throughout the 17-boat elite pack of racers, Gautham and Chezhiyan are certainly not fazed, "Some of the best sailors are here and we can't wait to race against them," said Chezhiyan. "We feel like we've had a really good opportunity to be here and we're going to take it.
"I don't think age is a barrier and I don't think we are disadvantaged in anyway. We don't have any excuses to do badly because we're young but I think we should just go out and kill it regardless. We know there are some really good sailors here but we're not intimidated by the fact they're former world champions and current world champions. We are just really happy to have opportunity to race against them and learn more.
"The aim is to be the best we can. As long as we do the things we can then as long as our process is good, our results will follow."
After the opening day of racing Gautham and Chezhiyan are placed 17th overall. Throughout the opening three races in Abu Dhabi the pair have been pushing the fleet hard and with a day of competition under their belt, they will be looking up for the remaining days of racing.
@ ISAF
