MALAYSIAN  optimist sailors are on course to defend their gold medal for the SEA Games KL2017 team event with a clean sweep of the round-robin races on Monday (21 Aug).

Muhammad Fauzi Kaman Shah, Muhammad Syafie Ali, Israr Hazim Ismail and Nor Nabila Natasha Mohd Nazri won all their six races of the day against sailors from Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar, providing a boost to Malaysia’s sailing campaign which started today at the National Sailing in Langkawi.

“The sailors are in top condition, and coming from the high of the World

Championship where we were placed third and into this championship as the highest ranked team in Southeast Asia,” said team manager Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan.

The under-15 sailors will meet fourth-placed Myanmar on Tuesday (22 Aug) while Thailand will race Singapore for a place in the finals.

Meanwhile, the women’s Laser Radial team made up of Khairuneeta Mohd

Afendy, NurShazrin Mohamad Latif and Nurliyana Mohamad Latif have confirmed a bronze medal after finishing the round-robin stage with one point. Singapore bagged gold, with Thailand winning the silver.

In the men’s Laser Standard, Malaysia still has a chance at winning gold when they meet Singapore in the finals tomorrow.

Malaysian Olympian Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy along with teammates Asri Zaman and Muhammad Farhan Hamid managed to win all their races in the second round-robin stage to get to the finals after a poor start in the first round-robin.

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