FULL STEAM AHEAD: Toh Liying (left) and Elizabeth Tan are now paired with different partners, but
both have the same goal. -- Photo: Today

SINGAPORE’S final attempt to secure a spot in the women’s 470 event at this year’s Beijing Olympics sailing competition began yesterday.

At the 470 World Championship held off the waters of Mordialloc Sailing Club in Melbourne, the pair of Dawn Liu and Elizabeth Tan, and Toh Liying and Deborah Ong finished the opening day in 34th and 36th places overall, after two races.

Liu and Tan — who won the women’s 470 gold medal at last month’s SEA Games in Thailand — finished in 17th and 16th spot respectively in Race 1 and 2.

Toh and Ong came home in 20th place in the first race and fared much better in Race 2, finishing in 14th spot. Italy’s Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol lead the 58-strong fleet with four nett points (1st and 3rd).

Australia’s Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson (4-1) are second (5 nett points) while Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout (1-5) of the Netherlands are third (6 nett points).

A total of six races have been scheduled, before the top and bottom halves go into the gold and silver fleets respectively for a further seven races.

The women’s 470 event for this year’s Olympic sailing competition, which will be held in Qingdao from Aug 9-21, will feature 19 countries.

Thirteen nations have already claimed their spot after the first Olympic qualifier — last July’s World Sailing Championship in Cascais, Portugal.

China, as Olympic hosts, have one automatic spot.

The remaining five spots will be decided in Melbourne and Singapore’s team leader Peter Logan believes the sailors are well in the hunt.

“We’re definitely in with a chance of qualifying, although it’s really hard to say what sort of finish is required.

“We still have to factor in those countries that have already qualified, as well as unpredictable and tricky conditions,” said Logan, 38, who is also SingaporeSailing’s sports science manager.

“But the sailors must put the Olympics out of their mind first, and not calculate the permutations. They just have to concentrate on each race as it comes.”