Maharashtra State, MTDC To Propel India’s First Powerboat World Championship

Achal Dhruva - Mumbai

Maharashtra is steering full steam ahead on the tourism front, especially in promoting Mumbai as an international destination. Following close on heels of the launch of the luxury train, Deccan Odyssey, the state government along with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) will be staging the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) Formula 1 (F1)

Powerboat World Championship in Mumbai on March 5-7, 2004. The state government is slated to spend Rs 10.25 crore for the three day affair, the first ever international Formula 1 event of its kind in the country. maharashtra piqued Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other contenders to host the prestigious event and has signed a three year contract with UIM, the governing body in charge of regulating the races based in Monaco, France.The contract was signed by Nicolo Di San Germano, promoter UIM F1 Powerboat World Championship with Ajit Nimbalkar, chief secretary, government of Maharashtra in Sharjah (UAE) in first week of December on the occasion of the penultimate Grand Prix of the 2003 season. Practice runs will be held on day one, pole positioning will take place on day two and the final race will be held on the third day, which is March 7, 2004.

The Mumbai race with 15-18 teams from across the globe and 24 boats will be the first on the Formula 1 Grand Prix calendar for the year. An estimated crowd of more than 4,000 F1 power boat fans are expected to witness the event to be held either off Gateway of India or the Marine Drive. Started in 1981, the UIM F1 Powerboat World Championship has been held in Finland, Germany, Singapore, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Dubai, Sharjah and many other places all over the globe. The sport is considered to be a high speed thrilling sport, similar to that of the F1 car racing which has gained immense popularity amongst sports lovers. The F1 Powerboat World Championship would be available for viewing to approximately 270 million homes worldwide. There are certain qualifiers that are taken into account during the venue selection process for the event. They can be listed as follows,

• Quality of the stretch of water
• Factors such as means of access
• Circulation of public
• Local hotel amenities and telecommunications facilities.

The previous events have also hosted other attractions along with the Grand Prix like festivities, promotion of tourism and other nautical sporting events such as Jetski, Speed Water Skiing, Hydroplanes etc to make the entire experience a grand spectacle.

According to Ashish Kumar Singh, managing director, MTDC, "This even would serve as an excellent platform to showcase Mumbai as an exciting tourism destination internationally." Chief minister of Maharashtra, Sushil Kumar Shinde has directed to organise various other events around the F1 race like promotion of water sports activities in the city, seminars on highlighting the environmental and economic uses of water as a precious resource. The aim of staging the event according to the chief minister is to make Mumbai the regional tourism hub of South Asia, use the picturesque waterfront of Mumbai for promoting tourism like in other coastal cities of the world and to promote water sports in the country."

"After a year of negotiations with the representatives of India at different levels it gives me great pleasure to see the F1 Powerboat World Championship in Mumbai. This will give our 2004 season a good start to be in a progressing nation where different kinds of sports are catching the imagination of the people," stated Germano.