Young sailors Banny and Akshay await their big break

13-year-old sailors Banny Bongur and Akshay Kumar fulfill their dreams by joining Boys Sports Company in Bengaluru.

For 13-year-old Banny Bongur and Akshay Kumar of Telangana, it was a dream come true when the two young sailors will be drafted into the Boys Sports Company in Bengaluru.

The 13-year-old Banny is born in a farmer’s family in Zaheerabad and Akshay, also 13, is a driver’s son and it is a tribute to their determination in making it to big in the sub-junior fleet of regatta, training in the Hussain Sagar Lake here under the mentorship of Suheim Sheikh, president and head coach of Yacht Club of Hyderabad.

The success story of the two sailors, who are students of IIM Ahmedabad Alumni supported Udbhav School at Rasoolpura (Secunderabad) could well be another reminder of how some of the young sporting talent brushes aside hurdles, he said.

Akshay is a quiet and unassuming boy and ranked 15th in India and was selected because of a well earned athletic build and good fitness apart from sailing well during the selection process, said Suheim Sheikh, who is also the head coach.

In a way, sailors Gowtham Kankatla and Durga Prasad, who were also products of Udbhav School and now officers in the Navy, are an inspiration for these two sailors.

“Yes, they will be waiting for the actual call letter from the Army Selection Committee at Delhi post approval by the Sports Authority of India,” the head coach said.

“The preliminary selection of these two sailors caps the induction of 21 boys before them from the Yacht Club who are mostly still studying at the Army and Navy Sailing Schools,” he said.