DISAPPOINTMENT: Singapore’s Optimist team (in red) lost the decisive third race
against their Thai (left) opponents.

PATTAYA - WITH many of the sports programmes already completed, Team Singapore are
expecting a final clutch of gold medals from sailing.

Chef-de-mission Low Teo Ping has said Singapore could hit as many as 45 golds by the time the flame is doused in Korat, Thailand on Saturday.

For that to happen, sailing must deliver at least four golds. The first one could have come yesterday here in Pattaya, at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, but in the end, Singapore’s Optimist
team were just pipped to the finish line by hosts Thailand.

The Thais won 2-1 in a best-of-three final, after both sides successfully negotiated the round robin stage, which included Malaysia and Myanmar, earlier in the day.

Singapore took a 1-0 lead after the first race with 14 points, before the Thais made it 1-1 also with 14 points in the second race. In the decisive third and final race, Thailand collected 16 points against Singapore’s 20 to take the top step on the podium.

The disappointment was evident on the faces of the Optimist team racing quintet of Russell Kan, Rachel Lee, Luke Tan, Darren Wong and Daniella Ng. But team manager Andrew Sanders believes they will bounce back even stronger.

“Don’t be surprised if Russell and Rachel come back forcefully in the individual races in their respective classes,” said Sanders.

“They’ll be even more fired up to make up for it. They have gone through such experiences many times and are trained to switch on and off at will, so this disappointment won’t affect them.” SingaporeSailing secretary general Edwin Low, who spent some time consoling the team, said missing out on the gold did hurt.

“The team racing event is a special one in sailing, and you could see that in the way the Thais celebrated,” he said. “It is something which our team worked very hard for, so to lose the gold
is a big disappointment, although we will help them manage it. They will get it out of their system and look forward to the remaining races.”

Russell and Rachel still have races remaining in the Optimist boys’ and girls’ classes, respectively, but the rest have completed their races.

While Singapore missed out on the first gold medal on offer in sailing, they lead in six other classes — the men’s and women’s 420s, the men’s and women’s 470s, the Optimist girls’
and the Super Mod — after the resumption of races yesterday after a day’s break.

Singapore is also second overall in the Hobie 16 and Laser, and third overall in the Mistral One (Youth).

But the gold medal hopes in the Farr Platu 25 Open took a knock after the quintet of Justin Tan, Justin Wong, Alvin Chong, Wilbur Chan and Alvin Hong were disqualified in Race 8. They had crossed the line first, but the disqualification occurred after an 11-man international jury — acting on a protest filed by the Philippines team — ruled that Singapore did not execute their
penalty turn at the earliest opportunity after an infringement against the Philippines team.

Singapore, lying in second place now behind Thailand, are considering appealing the decision.

“The guys executed their penalty turn at the earliest opportunity they could, but the jury thinks we were about 10 seconds late in doing so,” said Sanders.

“So we’re exploring our options, including to see if there had been a precedence of such cases, before deciding if we’ll take the case up again.”

The sailing competition ends tomorrow.

Read more stories on the 24th SEA Games here.