SINGAPORE'S sailors have secured two gold medals, even before the battle at sea is over. The pair, subject to official confirmation, brings Singapore's tally to five golds - one short of Team Singapore's predicted six.

The other three golds have come from the bowling women's doubles (Valerie Teo and Michelle Kwang), bodybuilder Simon Chua and swimmer Tao Li (50m butterfly).

With 10 races sailed and two to go, 420 girls' pair Sarah Tan and Lim Tze Ting, and 420 boys' duo Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng lead their respective fleets and cannot be overtaken.

Points are calculated by adding up the finishing position for each race, with the worst finish discarded.

World Youth bronze medallists Sarah and Tze Ting, both 17, top their four-boat fleet with nine points. They finished first in all but the eigthth race, where they were second behind Myanmar's Wai Su Sandar and Aung Zin April.

There is no way Japan's second-placed duo Yumi Takahashi and Kae Tsugaya, who have 20 points, can catch up. Even if they are first and the Singaporeans last in the final two races, Sarah and Tze Ting would have 15 points compared to Japan's 22.

The same situation applies to Justin and Sherman. The 15-year-olds lead their eight-boat fleet with 14 points, 10 ahead of Japan's Shibuki Iitsuka and Shingen Furuya. If the Singaporeans are last and the Japanese first in the remaining races, both pairs will be tied on 26 points. But Justin and Sherman would still triumph on a countback, as they would have six first-place finishes compared to Japan's five.

One race will take place today, the other on Wednesday. And the Republic's sailors are poised to bag even more golds. Maximilian Soh leads the Laser event, while Colin Cheng is in pole position in the Laser 4.7. In the Beneteau 7.5 match-racing event, Singapore's keelboat team of Teo Wee Chin, Roy Tay, Justin Wong,
Ivan Tan and Renfred Tay top the eight-team table with nine points (nine wins, two losses).

The top four teams after the 14-race preliminary rounds will then proceed to the knockout semi-finals.