113 young sailors will vie for honours as Hyderabad hosts the 6th YAI Secunderabad Club GMR Sports Youth Open Regatta 2026 on Hussain Sagar Lake from July 20 to 25, 2026.
The regatta carries dual status as a YAI National Ranking Event and National Junior Ranking Event, meaning results here count towards the national standings that shape selection for higher honours. For many of the sailors competing, points earned on Hussain Sagar in July will follow them through the rest of the season.
The Organising Authority is the Secunderabad Sailing Club (SSC), in association with the EME Sailing Association (EMESA), under the sanction of the Yachting Association of India (YAI). GMR Sports is the Title Sponsor.
Seven events across the week
Racing will be held in the Optimist Main Fleet and Optimist Green Fleet (Boys and Girls), ILCA 4 (Boys and Girls), ILCA 6 Open, 420 (Mixed, Boys and Girls) and 29er (Boys and Girls). A separate Optimist Team Racing competition will be held on July 23.
The Green Fleet is the entry-level Optimist division, and its presence alongside the 29er — a fast twin-trapeze skiff — gives the regatta an unusually wide span, from sailors racing their first national event to those already competing at the sharp end of the junior circuit.
A maximum of 10 races are scheduled for each event, with up to three races per day and the possibility of one additional race. Scoring follows the Low Point System. Five completed races are required to constitute a series; once six or more are completed, each boat’s worst score is discarded.
The course area sits in the middle of Hussain Sagar, within sight of Tank Bund and the Secretariat. It is one of the few national-ranking venues in India where spectators can watch racing from a public promenade without a boat. The lake also gives the event a detail found nowhere else on the Indian circuit: under the Sailing Instructions, the Buddha statue and its platform are designated obstructions, and sailors must navigate around the monument as a formal part of the race area.
Srinivas inaugurates the regatta
The regatta was formally opened at the Secunderabad Sailing Club on the evening of July 20, 2026 by Srinivas Kylasa, president, Secunderabad Club, who met the club’s sailors, inaugurated a new speed boat engine for the event’s safety and support fleet, and was introduced to the Optimist, ILCA, 420 and 29er classes racing this week. The president of the Secunderabad Club delivered the welcome address, and the vice president proposed the vote of thanks.
