Historic gold beckons for S’pore sailors

SINGAPORE — The Republic’s quest for a first gold medal from the Youth Olympic Games could be realised today from one of two 15-year-old sailors, as Bernie Chin leads Singapore’s hopes into the final race of the men’s Byte CII event in pole position.

Bernie has a four-point lead over Brazil’s Pedro Luiz Marcondes Correa, with Portugal’s Rodolfo Pires another three points further back.

It could be double delight for Singapore as Samantha Yom will have one last chance to convert silver into gold. Heading into the final race, Samantha trails Odile van Aanholt of the Netherlands by four points with the nearest challenger, Carolina Albano of Italy, well off the pace, 19 points adrift.

Singapore’s other sailor, Ynez Lim in the windsurfing Techno 293 event, is in eighth place and a long shot for the podium.

Speaking to TODAY, Singapore sailing coach Fernando Alegre cautioned against complacency heading in to the final race.

“If our sailors get the worst-case scenario, which is a penalty and 31 points, then the medal hopes are gone,” he warned. “Bernie has to be very careful as he already has one such score (Race 2).”

Poor winds yesterday resulted in the cancellation of racing at Jinniu Lake for the second day running, with organisers NYOGOC deciding to shorten the sailing competition, calling off Races 8 to 10 for the Byte CII and Races 7 to 10 for the Techno 293, leaving the finals to be held today. Tomorrow has been set aside as a reserve day should conditions remain unsuitable. PHILIP GOH