Poor wind delays Malaysia Challenge semifinals
By Lukman Natanagara
LANGKAWI, Malaysia (JP): Due to poor wind conditions, the semifinal round of the Malaysia Challenge sailing championships was delayed here until Friday, when it will be continued with the finals and contest for the fifth to 10th placings.
Two more skippers, Sten Mohr of Denmark and Magnus Holmberg of Sweden, have entered the semifinals following their victories on Thursday in the elimination three races.
By the fourth day of the event, Mohr, ranked second in the world, had collected a total of 19 points and Holmberg (4th) had collected 18 points. Andy Beadsworth (17th) of England led the list of points when he added on Wednesday 9.5 points of the 20 points, giving him a total of 29.5 points. Roy Heiner (43rd) of the Netherlands also added 9.5 points to his earlier tally, which now totals 26.5 points.
Tomislav Basic (8th) of Croatia and Markus Wieser (10th) of Germany both collected 17 points. Philipe Presti (France, 30th) had 16 points, Sebastien Destrenau (Australia, 23rd) 13 points, Taranov Maxim (Russia, 42nd) six points and Hamdan Yahya (Malaysia) three points.
Taranov and Yahya are out of the semifinals and will compete with the other four non-semifinalists for the 5th to 10th placings.
In Friday's races, the semifinalists are allowed to choose their opponents according to the same competition class. Beadsworth selected Holmberg, so Heiner will compete against Mohr.
"At first I wanted to choose Heiner, but I decided Holmberg instead. It's going to be a tough contest for us but I only hope I can enter the finals. I have to wait for the winner between Heiner and Mohr," Beadsworth said.
Holmberg shared Beadsworth's view that the race would be a tough one, but he felt confident he could outwit Beadsworth.
"I believe I have the potential to win over Beadsworth, although I know it is not that easy," said Holmberg.
The delayed elimination three races held on Thursday were won by Beadsworth, who not only beat Heiner but also Mohr. Heiner was in second place after beating Wieser, while third and fourth places went to respectively Mohr and Wieser.
Fifth to 10th placing in the elimination three races are held by respectively Presti, Holmberg, Destrenau, Basic, Maxim and Yahya.
Thursday's races started well with good sunshine, but later in the day just as the semifinals were about to start it began raining heavily. The organizer decided to stop the semifinal races and moved them to Friday.
All races must be completed by Friday to meet the schedule for the closing ceremony, which will be held on the same day. The ceremony will be followed by the presentation of total cash prizes of US$75,000 (Rp 52.5 million) to the 10 skippers.
Chief of the Malaysian Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Tan Sri Dato Sri Ahmad Zahidi bin Zainuddin was expected to close the Malaysian Challenge.
The winner in the finals will receive $17,400, second place getter will receive $10,439 and third in line will win $8,709.