Another feather in the cap for Singapore

Squad wins Optimist Sailing Team Racing Worlds

Singapore has won the Optimist Sailing Team Racing World Championships in Uruguay.

After a victory over Puerto Rico in Round 1, they beat successively the strong opposition of New Zealand and Japan before overcoming three times gold medalists Peru in the final. In the repechage following the surprise victory of the Netherlands over strong favorites Argentina, Germany beat Japan to take bronze.

Team Manager Edwin Low commented, “The day started with light winds and strong currents, and improved to a steady 10 to 12 knot breeze during the finals. The Singapore sailors are ecstatic after their victory, they worked very hard to stay on top of the high-level competition from the start to the finals.”

Commenting on the strong teamwork displayed by the sailors, SingaporeSailing’s Executive Director Andrew Sanders said, “It feels like joy to win as a team, this has made them all World Champions, and this goes well with the strong team philosophy we have at SingaporeSailing. The time and energy we have invested in the Optimist sailing programmes have planted the seeds for top level sailors for the next 10 years. This is an awesome achievement in the World’s biggest and most competitive junior class of boat.”

Emerging as the top sailing nation at the recent 15th Asian Games, Singapore sailors has clinched six World titles in the last 18 months, winning the 2005 Youth World Championships (420 boys), 2006 Byte World Championships (boys and girls) and 2006 Laser 4.7 World Championships (boys and girls), this has cemented Singapore amongst the top youth sailing nations in the world. "The year 2006 was a great year for SingaporeSailing, we have greeted the new year with good news of our abilities to perform well at the world stage. The win augurs well for our bench strength to compete at the SEA Games and Asian Games,” said SingaporeSailing’s President, Mr Low Teo Ping.

The IODA World Sailing Championship is held from 29 December 2006 to 9 January 2007 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The racing area is located in the waters surrounding the Puerto del Buceo and the shore venue will be the Yacht Club Uruguayo. Racing for the individual world titles continues the day after tomorrow's rest day on 7 January 2007.

The team representing Singapore in Uruguay includes:
Sailors:
Russell Kan Tsung Liang
Griselda Khng
Rachel Lee Qing
Sean Lee Teik Ren
Timothy Seet Qianren
Edwin Low - Team Manager
Fernando Alegre - Coach
Nilju Chinakrit (Sommai) - Coach