Oka fine in Sydney warm up

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia windsurfer Oka Sulaksana scored 34 points in the three opening races of the 2000 Mistral Oceanic Continental Championships in Sydney Harbour on Thursday, said the Indonesian Yachting and Windsurfing Association (Porlasi) official in charge of athletes development, Raymond Kotambunan.

He said in the first race, Oka finished 10th. He fared better in the second race, coming 9th, but in the final race he only managed to finish 15th. The competition will end on Monday.

"Oka is warming up in the tournament before he competes in the Olympic Games, so the association has not set him any specific target. However, Oka managed to finish first in five out of the six races during the Olympics trials," he said.

According to www.sailing.org, New Zealander Aaron McIntosh finished top with seven points, followed by Carlos Espinola from Argentine with 13 and Nicolas Beudou of France in the third place with 19.

In the women's event, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist Lee Lai Shan of Hongkong was first with six points. American Lanee Butler was only one point behind Lee and Barbara Kendall of New Zealand was third with 10 points. (ivy)