KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Team SSL Malaysia advanced to the 1/16 Finals of the Star Sailors League (SSL) Gold Cup Final Series in Gran Canaria, Spain when they won Fleet 3 after four days of intensive racing in the opening 1/32 Finals which ended on Monday.
Malaysia, strengthened by the presence of three-time Olympian sailor Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy as the helmsman and assisted by the gold medal winner of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif as tactician, collected 16 points to occupy the top spot in Fleet 3.
Other teams in Fleet 3 were Bermuda, trailing in second place with 12 points, followed by Antigua and Barbuda (also 12 points) and Ukraine (8 points).
Khairulnizam, who is trying to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games for the fourth time after London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, was satisfied with the team’s performance so far.
“It was really a special, dramatic moment when we finished the first stage in the first place,” he said in a statement issued by the SSL Team Malaysia today.
In the 1/16 Finals scheduled from tomorrow until Sunday, the national squad of 11 sailors will be in Fleet 1 with their opponents from Austria, Chile and Estonia.
The SSL Gold Cup is recognised by the international governing body World Sailing as the World Cup that will crown the best country in the sport of sailing. — Bernama
