INCHEON: Sailor Jeremy Koo has seven hurdles to clear in his bid to win the match racing gold.
Besides Malaysia, China, Singapore, Bahrain, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong are the other competing teams.
“But it will be a four-way battle with Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia fighting for the gold,” predicted skipper Jeremy, one of Malaysia’s gold medal prospects in sailing.
The other three members in Jeremy’s team are Mohamed Fauzi Mustapha, Ong Khong Shing and Looi Sing Yaw. They have been training with the rest of the Malaysian team at the Wangsan Sailing Marina, the venue of the competition.
Team manager Mohamed Effendy Abdullah, however, believes China will also be a major threat as they have a sailor with experience racing in the America’s Cup.
“I wouldn’t discount China in the medal chase. Match racing is a very competitive event and having someone with America’s Cup experience means a lot.
“But I believe that Jeremy’s team is ready to win the gold,” he said.
Jeremy in now one of the top-ranked skippers in Asia. He has moved up a rung to 41st in the latest International Sailing Federation (ISAF) world rankings. In Asia, Jeremy is ranked third behind Maximilian Soh of Singapore (No. 26) and defending Asian Games gold medallist Wataru Sakamoto of Japan (No. 39).
World No. 51 Park Gun-woo of South Korea, who won the bronze in Guangzhou four years ago, is another one to watch out for.
Besides Jeremy, the other gold targeted by the Malaysian Yachting Association (MYA) is from the 420 Class (dinghy) duo of Mohd Faizal Norizan and Ahmad Syukri.
They won a silver at the World Youth Championships earlier this year and a top-five finish at the World Championships.
Faizal and Ahmad are now ranked No. 1 in Asia.
All the Malaysian sailors will check into the Games Village today. The sailing competition begins on Tuesday.
Sailing has never failed to deliver medals at the Asiad since Ryan Tan claimed the boys’ Optimist gold in Hiroshima in 1994. Rufina Tan became the second Malaysian gold medallist when she won the Optimist in Doha in 2006.
In 2010 in Guangzhou, the sailors delivered two silvers and one bronze.
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