Team Captain Koh Seng Leong

DON’T write them off yet.

That is the message from Mark Robinson, team manager of Singapore’s Olympic sailing squad, despite the six-strong squad being well off the pace at the Olympic sailing competition in Qingdao.

Both the men’s and women’s 470s pair are languishing in the bottom half of their respective
fleets after the second day of races yesterday.

“It’s still way too early to speculate and write them off,” said Robinson, who is also Singapore-
Sailing’s high performance head, in a telephone interview from Qingdao. “The winds here have
been light, about four to six knots, and many, not just us, are experiencing inconsistent results, so we are expecting this regatta to be a high-scoring one.”

The men’s 470s pair of Xu Yuanzhen and Terence Koh are 18th out of 29 boats, after finishing
Races 3 and 4 in 18th and 19th respectively.

They had finished Races 1 and 2 on Monday in 15th and 17th place, respectively, for a 69 point
(15-17-18-19) total so far. Leading the men’s 470 event are Australia’s Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page on 17 points (4-7-3- 3). In the women’s 470s, Toh Liying and Deborah Ong are last out of 19 boats after ending Races 3 and 4 in 15th and 19th positions for a total of 68 points (17-17-15-19).

Australia’s Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson with 9 points (2-2- 4-1) are the women’s 470 leaders. Yesterday also saw the start of Races 1 and 2 for the men’s Laser Standard and women’s Laser Radial. National captain Koh Seng Leong (picture), competing in the Laser Standard, is occupying 40th position in a fleet of 43. New Zealander Andrew Murdoch on 7 points (2-5) is the early pace-setter.

Lo Man Yi is in 20th place out of 28 boats in the Laser Radial, which is led by Anna Tunnicliffe of the United States on 9 points (4-5).