- Weather
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Max |
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40°C |
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Min |
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30°C |
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Sunrise |
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05 : 30 AM |
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Sunset |
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06 : 30 PM |
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Humidity |
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50 to 80 per cent |
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- Prayer Time
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Fajar |
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03:58 am |
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Dhuhr |
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12:09 pm |
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Asar |
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03:30 pm |
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Magrib |
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06:50 pm |
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Isha |
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08:09 pm |
- Oil Price
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- Gold Price
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Price in RO
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24ct / gm |
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16.97 |
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22ct / gm |
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16.60 |
- Currency Rates
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Forex Rates vs R01
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US Dollar |
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2.60 |
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Euro |
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2.01 |
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Pound |
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1.71 |
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Indian Rs. |
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143.92 |
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Pak Rs. |
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255.82 |
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Bangla Taka |
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201.38 |
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Boats in action during the start of third day of RC 44 Oman Cup at The Wave Muscat, yesterday. Oman Sail
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Muscat: The forecasters don't always get it right and today was luckily one of those days. With racing already delayed in anticipation of an unsettled forecast, the teams were greeted with 13-15 knots and white horses as they sailed from The Wave, Muscat into the starting area for the second day of fleet racing at the RC44 Oman Cup.
Katushaextended their lead at the top of the leader board on a day their tactician Andy Horton called "challenging" with big wind shifts and a breeze that decreased throughout the day bring three separate race winners.
End of line
Team Aqua seemed keen to make up for the points lost yesterday after their protest with Ironbound. Hitting the pin end of the line at pace in space, Aqua was launched. They led at the top mark with main rival Katusha right on their tail. On the second beat Lunajets Aleph Racing managed to split the pair, Aqua was quick to gybe away as the wind shifted right, the French team and Nika followed. Aqua cruised to their first race win of the RC44 Oman Cup, Aleph second and Nika third withKatusha dropping to fifth. After a general recall the 13 RC44s got away cleanly on the second attempt. Katusha had been fighting for the pin, but put in an early tack taking the sterns of the fleet, by the top mark they had again taken the lead just ahead of Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis Racing, the pair sailed away from the fleet, Katusha taking their third win of the event. The competition for third was fierce with places changing on each leg. Valentin Zavadnikov's Russian Sailing Synergy Team eventually held off Peninsula Petroleum and Nika to take third.
The decreasing 8-9 knot breeze, Artemis Racing took charge of the final race of the day.
Katusha rounded the windward mark in second and went for the early gibe; Aqua followed round but opted not to follow. By the leeward gate Aqua had gained passing Katusha. The top three places didn't change on the final run; Artemis Racing, Team Aqua and Katusha remain the only boats to win a race at the RC44 Oman Cup. On the overall leader board, Katusha have extended their lead from 11 to 16 point lead over Team Aqua. Artemis Racing sit in third tied on points with Team Nika.
Vladimir Prosikhin's team showing good consistency at the start of their second full season in the class, "Somehow we seem to have improved our boat speed and it's a good foundation to have. We still have some work to do on the basic boat handling so we can minimise the silly mistakes but we have been fighting hard on both days to keep our position. We still have a lot of things to improve but the fundamentals are now ok."
Katusha appear to be running away with the regatta, but with two more days of racing and no discards there is still a lot of racing to be done. Defending champions Team Aqua are renowned for their comeback's and can never be written off, owner Chris Bake gave his thoughts on the competition. "It's a new year everyone out there is refocused and re-energised, Katusha is sailing very well, the whole fleet is very variable. The newer teams to the fleet such as Team Nika and RUS 7 are all getting some really good races in, I think it's pretty much an open season."
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