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Germany duo Wagner Jan-Jaspe and Baldwein Dustin are set to emerge triumphant in the men’s event at the 47th World Military Sailing Championship (470 Class). However, it is the women’s event that will be in the spotlight in the final three races to be held today at Doha Bay, while Qatar’s men’s team kept their podium chances alive, finishing fourth overall yesterday. |
It was one-way traffic in the men’s class as Jan-Jaspe and Baldwein strengthened their lead over Ukraine’s Broys Shvets and Pavlo Matsyev. The Ukrainians did manage to shock their Germans in the day’s opening race by finishing first, but Jan-Jaspe and Baldwein bounced back to win the next two races and extend their lead to eight nett points.
It was a good day for the Qatar’s Waleed al-Sharshani and Jassim al-Sulaiti, who climbed one place after finishing third, second and fourth in three races respectively. They trail Poland’s Marcin Czajkowski and Piotr Przybylski by just two points but are in a good position to challenge them for third spot.
Sharshani, the former Asian Games 4.7 Laser silver medallist, was pleased with the day’s performance. “It was a great day for us. The wind was strong today but we managed to counter the course conditions and had an amazing day. We started with a third place but improved and secured the second spot in the next race, which helped us a great deal in advancing to the fourth spot,” he said.
“The wind is predicted to be strong again tomorrow and it will be a huge fight between three teams for the overall third place. I feel there is not going to be any change in the top two but if we can repeat today’s show, we stand a good chance of finishing on the podium,” added Sharshani.
India’s Pushparajan Muttu and Narendra Singh Rajput, who were lying at third place after six races, faltered yesterday and slid to fifth spot. They were penalised for violation in the first race and finished ninth and fifth in the next two, to end the day on 35 nett points, the same as Qatar.
However, it was the women’s race that is interestingly poised and is set to go down the wire. The leaderboard changed again yesterday after France’s Camille Lecointre and Sophie De Turckheim grabbed the lead back from Russia’s Alisa Kiriluyk and Liudmila Dmitrieva.The French pair came second to Russians in the first race, but won the next two and they now lead by two points net points. Ukraine’s Anna Kyselova and Anastasiya Krasko were distant third with 28 nett score.
French sailor Lecointre, though delighted with the lead, said the gap is very small and it will be all to play for in today’s last three races.
“We are only two points ahead of the Russian team. We had a really good day. It was more windy than yesterday but had more speed. I’m racing with Sophie for the first time and we’re having a lot of fun. The gap is very small. Tomorrow, there will be a hard fight between us and Russian and we’ll try to do our best,” said the Frenchwoman.
