BEIJING BOUND: Men’s 470 class sailors Terence Koh (left) and Xu Yuanzhen won a close race to fly the Singapore flag at the Beijing Olympics. Photo: © Delta Lloyd Regatta

SingaporeSailing unveil four nominees for the Olympics
SINGAPORE’S hopes of a first-everOlympic medal in sailing now rest on the shoulders of four.

Yesterday, SingaporeSailing announced they have selected Koh Seng Leong, Lo Man Yi, Xu Yuanzhen and Terence Koh to represent the Republic at this August’s Beijing Olympic Games.

Seng Leong, 24, will compete in the Laser Standard class while his younger brother Terence, 20, will partner 23-year-old :Xu in the men’s 470. Lo, 20, was selected to race in the Laser Radial category.

Seng Leong, the most experienced of the four, was also named captain of the sailing squad for the Olympics.

Subject to a final approval by the Singapore National Olympic Council’s (SNOC) Games selection committee today, the four will represent Singapore at the Olympics sailing competition, to be held at the Qingdao International Sailing Centre from Aug 9-21.

The selection was done by a seven-member selection panel which included SingaporeSailing’s chief executive officer Andrew Sanders and high performance head Mark Robinson, and 1994 Asian Games Laser champion Dr Benedict Tan.

“This team is definitely one of the best prepared and best supported (that we’ve ever had),” said Singapore Sailing president Low Teo Ping, 62, in :yesterday’s press conference at the National Sailing Centre at East Coast Park.

“The path to the final selection was not easy as all of them were sailing at a very high level... The difference was so slim... It was a tough call.”

Sanders revealed that eventually, the selection criteria was based solely upon the number of points they each accumulated over three meets stipulated by SingaporeSailing as selection trials as each country is allowed only one spot in each class :under the Olympic sailing competition format.

Eleven national sailors had taken part in the three meets, and a total of 16 had been nominated to the SNOC for the men’s 470 (4 pairs), Laser Standard (4) and Laser Radial (4).

Despite being the only one in his class who competed, Seng Leong still had to battle a chronic back problem that ruled him out of the Holland Regatta.

For the Laser Radial, Lo’s 76 points bettered Elizabeth Yin (93), Victoria Chan (98) and Siobhan Tam (108). It was a much closer race for the men’s 470 slot with Xu and Terence scoring 108 points, pipping the more experienced pair of Roy Tay and Chung Pei Ming by just two points.

Teo Wee Chin and Benjamin Tan were third with 152.

Sanders believes all the sailors who were in contention were mentally prepared whatever the outcome.

“We didn’t want any conflict of interests or bias (in the selection process), so as early as January last year we showed them the guidelines and selection process,” said Sanders.

All three men’s 470 pairs, as well as Lo, could not be reached for comment as they were in action at press time last night at the Kiel Regatta in Germany.

Team captain Seng Leong expressed mixed feelings over his selection.

“It’s hard to feel happy as those who didn’t make it are also my close friends,” he said. “While I’m delighted at being selected, and for my brother (Terence), the others, like Roy and Pei Ming have been my good friends for a very long time.

“But we’ve always said we’ll support and cheer whoever gets picked. I’m aiming to put in a stellar performance in Qingdao.”