Israeli wins gold at Oman sailing competition in toned down award ceremony

According to an interview with Israel's Channel 12 news published on Friday, 18-year-old Gal Zuckerman revealed that the national team participated "under the radar" due to the sultanate's limited diplomatic ties with Israel.

Zuckerman said her victory "caused a bit of a mess", as "everyone's anthems were cancelled, because of me"

"I really wanted to tell family, mom and dad, and friends I had won, but I could not, I was forbidden. Nobody knew about the achievement in real-time," she added.

The competition's official website however, does display the Israeli flag next to Zuckerman's name on the winner's list, posted last Friday. The following day, the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported the win.

It was also reported that Israeli sailors Roy Levi and Ariel Gal came in third place in the 420 Dinghy race competition.

Hosted at the Sultanate's seaside resort of Mussaah, the championship was the 50th edition and included a total of 433 sailors from 56 countries taking part in 11 youth events. Men's and Women's Kiteboarding FormulaKite were new categories added to the competition and the sport will also appear for the first time at the upcoming Paris Olympics.