Constant rain becoming a bane for Malaysian sailors

THE constant rain in Langkawi have put the Malaysian sailing team in a dither.

Sailing is due to start on Monday and the rain has affected the Malaysians’ training schedules.

“There were daily showers for the whole of last week.

“The forecast this week is also not good although there are indications the weather will be fine later in the week,” said coach Mohamed Effendy Abdullah.

Sailing offers 14 golds and Malaysia are setting a five-gold target.

At the 2015 Singapore Games, Malaysia clinched seven golds.

Effendy, however, is confident of bagging more than five golds and hopes the team can even surpass the 2015 achievement.

And the gold may come in as early as Aug 22, as three golds – men’s Laser Standard team, women’s Laser Radial team and mixed team Optimist – are up for grabs.

Nur Shazrin Mohamed Latiff is also a gold medal prospect.

The 19-year-old Shazrin, who finished 34th in the Rio Olympics last year, is the favourite in the women’s Laser Radial individual and will anchor the Laser Radial team.

Malaysia’s biggest threat in the competition is Singapore.

The island republic then had bagged 10 out of the 20 golds at stake when they hosted the Games in 2015.

Thailand (2) and the Philippines (1) were the other gold medallists in the competition.

“There are fewer events this time so the competition is expected to be tougher.

“But we remain confident that we can better our target,” said Effendy.