TOP CONTENDERS: Vying for the Olympic 470 slot are Toh Liying (above left) and Deborah Ong, (above right) and Dawn Liu and Elizabeth Tan. -- PHOTOS: SINGAPORESAILING

FIRST, there were four. Now, six sailors will be heading to the Beijing Olympics next month, a
record for Singapore.

Yesterday, the Republic earned a women's 470 berth through the International Sailing Federation's (Safe) Unused Quota Place, which awards slots to the best non-qualifiers for a particular class.

Either the pair of Toh Liying and Deborah Ong or Dawn Liu and Elizabeth Tan will claim the spot.

The chosen pair will join Xu Yuanzhen and Terence Koh (men's 470), Koh Seng Leong (Laser Standard) and Lo Manyi (Laser Radial) in Qingdao for the Aug 9-21 Olympic sailing programme.

Previously, the most number of Singapore sailors to compete at a single Olympics was five for the 1956 Melbourne Games.

SingaporeSailing had applied for Unused Quota Places in the Laser Standard, Laser Radial and women's 470 before the Nov 15 deadline last year.

Judging from the pairs' recent track record, Toh, 23, and Deborah, 17, look to be in pole osition for the women's 470 slot. They have been consistently better than their compatriots, including finishing 39th ahead of 45th-placed Liu, 21, and Tan, 24, at January's 470 World Championships in Melbourne - the second and final Olympic qualifier.

At the first Olympic qualifier, the Isaf World Championships in Cascais, Portugal, Toh and Ong ere 44th, and Liu and Tan 55th. Meanwhile, the Singapore Athletic Association is set to nominate sprinter Amanda Choo on a wildcard entry to the Olympics.

Zhang Guirong, who met the shot put 'B' qualifying distance of 17.20m last December, failed to prove her consistency.

She heaved 16.45m to finish second behind China's Li Ling in the final leg of the Asian Grand rix event in Hanoi yesterday. She had managed 16.80m and 16.77m in the first two legs.

The SAA had stipulated that to go to Beijing, Zhang needed to throw within 1.5 per cent of the 17.20m qualifying mark, which is 16.94m. 'We'll make a recommendation to our training and selection committee based on these distances and they will make the final decision,' said SAA assistant technical director C. Veeramani. The deadline for final submissions to the international federation is July 23.