Our sailors return with three silver medals from Asian meet

PETALING JAYA: Sailor Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy is shaping up nicely to fight for a historic breakthrough at the Asian Games in Indonesia in August.

Rio Olympian Khairulnizam contributed one of the three silver medals won by the Malaysian team at the just concluded Asian Sailing Championships in Ancol, Jakarta.

Khairulnizam was unlucky to miss out on the gold medal in the Laser class as he fought South Korean rival Ha Jee-min all the way to the eighth and final race.

The Podium Programme athlete collected 13 points while Jee-min ended with one more for the gold. Japan’s Kazumasa Segawa took bronze with 27 points.

Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif, also from Podium, bagged a silver in the Laser Radial with 13 points behind China’s Zhang Dongshuang (seven points).

The third silver was won by Mohd Fauzi Kaman Shah in Laser 4.7 class.

Malaysia also won two bronze medals from Ilham Wahab in RS:One Male and Nuraisyah Jamil-Norashikin Mohd Sayed in women’s 470.

At the 2014 Incheon Games, Khairulnizam won a silver medal for Malaysia in Laser behind Jee-min to maintain Malaysia’s good tradition in the event.

Prior to Khairulnizam, Dr Kevin Lim sailed to silver medals in Laser in the 1998 (Bangkok) and 2002 (Busan) editions of the Asian Games.

“This competition was useful for me to gauge the wind and water conditions at Ancol, which will be the Asian Games venue for sailing,” said Khairulnizam.

“I’ve never sailed in Indonesia before, so the experience is good.

“The South Korean is my strongest rival. We both won three races.

Sailing is one of Malaysia’s gold medal prospects at the Asian Games.

In Incheon, sailing contributed one gold and two silvers through Faizal NorizanAhmad Syukri Abdul Aziz in men’s 420 (gold), Khairulnizam (silver) and Nuraisyah JamilUmi Norwahida Sallahuddin in women’s 420 (silver).