Fauzi optimistic of retaining Games gold

PETALING JAYA: Teenage sailor Muhd Fauzi Kaman Shah is on track to retain his SEA Games gold medal after clinching silver at the Optimist World Championship in Pattaya in Thailand.

The 14-year-old, who bagged a bronze at the World Championship in Portugal last year, won the silver after the final leg of the race was cancelled at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club (RVYC) in Pattaya on Thursday. It was cancelled because there was no wind.

Italian Marco Gradoni was crowned world champion with 29 points. Fauzi had 42 points while Costa Rican Mic Sig Kos was third with 45 points.

Fauzi, Nurul Shazwanie Md Saad, Israr Hazim Ismail, Nor Nabila Natasha Mohd Nazri and Muhammad Syafie Ali had earlier clinched the Optimist team bronze medal behind the United States (gold) and China (silver).

Team manager Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan described the good showing in Pattaya as “the right tonic” for the sailing team ahead of the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

“Our sailors gained a lot of experience from competing against foreign sailors and their performance bodes well for the SEA Games,” said Nik Ashraf yesterday.

“The SEA Games format will be a bit different but we are confident of winning medals at home.

“This competition is the last international outing for our Optimist sailors. We’ll return to our base in Langkawi now and continue with our centralised training for the SEA Games.”

Sailing contributed the second most number of golds for Malaysia at the Singapore Games in 2015, returning home with seven golds from the 20 at stake.

The Malaysian Sailing Association (MSA) have lowered their target to five golds for the SEA Games. Sailing will be held at the National Sailing Centre in Langkawi from Aug 21-29.