JEREMY KOO of Sime Darby Foundation-KRT won the Liga Layar Malaysia (LLM) Langkawi leg at the National Sailing Centre, overcoming Mohd Masyuri Rahmat of the Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team.
The first semifinal saw Masyuri’s navy boys beat Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan and his Permai Hotel Match Racing Team. Koo, meanwhile, came out on top against Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy of UiTM/MYA Match Racing Team.
The finals pitted the tournament’s top two skippers Masyuri and Koo in a replay of last November’s battle in Pulau Duyong with Koo once again besting Masyuri in two races. In the petit final, Khairulnizam beat Nik Ashraf Qaedi to finish third.
By winning this leg of the LLM, Koo and his team took home RM8,000, Masyuri RM5,000 and Khairulnizam RM2,000 in prize money.
Tunku Laksamana Johor, Tunku Abdul Jalil Sultan Ibrahim, chairman of Innovatige Sdn Bhd presented the prizes to Koo and his team.
Datuk Mansor Ismail, Malaysia Yachting Association (MYA) vice president presented Masyuri his winnings while MYA general manager Mohd Afendy Abdullah gave away the prizes to Khairulnizam.
At the same ceremony, three race umpires received their certificates of endorsement as National Match Racing Umpires. They are Commander Malik Sulaiman RMN, Lieutenant Commander Chin In and Norhafisham Ahmad. The trio became the first ever Malaysian umpires to be certified to be match racing umpires.
The LLM is the local match racing circuit organised to select Malaysia’s representative for the Monsoon Cup, the final destination in the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT). Besides Langkawi, other locations in the pipeline for the year include Lumut, Port Dickson, Pulau Duyong, Johor and Port Klang.
Organised by MYA and Innovatige Sdn Bhd – the rights holder to the Monsoon Cup – LLM is part of MYA’s effort to answer the government’s call to have more sailing tournaments to improve the skills of Malaysians.
Final standings
Champion: Jeremy Koo (Sime Darby Foundation – KRT)
Runner-up: Mohd Masyuri Rahmat (Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team)
Third: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (UiTM/MYA Match Racing Team)
Fourth: Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan (Permai Hotel Match Racing Team)
