THE first local match-racing tournament of the season started today in Langkawi with some familiar names taking the lead at the end of Day 1 of the round robin stage.
Mohd Masyuri A. Rahmat of the Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team and Jeremy Koo of Sime Darby Foundation-KRT notched four wins each while Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan and his Permai Hotel Match Racing Team recorded three wins after seven flights of races in the Liga Layar Malaysia (LLM) tournament at the National Sailing Training Centre.
However, Koo received a penalty during his race against Nik Ashraf and the chief umpire deducted one point from him, which saw him drop to second place with three and a half points.
Six skippers and their teams are vying for the privilege to represent Malaysia at the Monsoon Cup, the final destination in the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT).
Besides Koo, Masyuri and Nik Ashraf Qaedi, the other three skippers are Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (UiTM/MYA Match Racing Team), Mohd Faizal Norizan (Royal Langkawi Yacht Club/MYA) and Muhammad Shaiful Bakhtiar Shariff (SPA Sailing Team).
The teams had a slow start in the morning due to light wind conditions but situation improved in the afternoon and they managed to complete seven of the eight flights of races scheduled. The qualifying round will resume tomorrow followed by the quarterfinal round.
Organised by the Malaysian Yachting Association (MYA) and Innovatige Sdn Bhd, the rights holder to the Monsoon Cup, LLM is part of the Associationâs effort to answer the governmentâs call to have more sailing tournaments, to improve the skills of Malaysian athletes before participating in bigger international events. This leg of LLM offers a total of RM15,000 in prize money.
Qualifying Results (after 7 flights)
Mohd Masyuri A. Rahmat (Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team) 4-0
Jeremy Koo (Sime Darby Foundation – KRT) 3-0
Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan (Permai Hotel Match Racing Team) 3-2
Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (UiTM/MYA Match Racing Team) 2-3
Muhammad Shaiful Bakhtiar Shariff (SPA Sailing Team) 1-4
Mohd Faizal Norizan (Royal Langkawi Yacht Club/MYA) 0-5
