OLYMPICS/ Preliminaries
Denmark pair catch up to top 49er at Qingdao Regatta
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-21 11:31
The Denmark pair, Peter Hansen and Soren Hansen, caught up to top the overall ranking in 49er after nine races at Qingdao International Regatta here on Monday.
Peter Hansen and Soren Hansen finished 1st on race 6, but on race 8, they didn't perform quite well by ranking 12th. They found their rhythm back on race 9 and finished 5th to surpass their Spain opponents Iker Martinze and Xabier Fernandez to top the overall ranking.
The Hansens' said after the game: "The current and wind conditions provided for a very tough day today. We had our best start in the first two races, and not such a great start in the third race. Overall, we are pretty happy with how we did today."
Iker Martinze and Xabier Fernandez, the 49er gold medalists in Athens Olympics, fell down to rank fifth after nine races.
"I did not do so well today. During the first race, I had a bad start, and ended up making several mistakes. This led us to fall behind, and we finished in the middle of the fleet", said Martinze.
"During the second race, I had a bad start and did not pick the best route, ending up on the wrong side of the course."
"Both the upwind and downwind were extremely difficult today", she added, "I am still doing fairly well in this regatta. Some days you sail well; some days you don't. I am very optimistic about the rest of this event."
In other events, Elsie Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson of Australia topped the overall rankings of 470 Women, and in 470 Men, Gidi Kliger and Udi Gal from Israel took the lead.
The British team still kept their advantage in Finn, Yngling, and Laser. In Tornado, Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher of Austria topped the ranking after four races.
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams from New Zealand finished 1st on race 4 to rank 1st overall in Star.
"What gave us an advantage was that the top group was all fighting to keep their positions. They were only concerned with each other but not with us in the back, therefore we could go up and overtake them." They said.
Jo Aleh of New Zealand topped the Laser Radial after six races. They finished 7th and 4th in today's races.
"Today, my performance was OK. The wind was light, so the downwind was extremely difficult. This was especially the case in the first round", said Aleh.
"I was in first place coming into today's races, and I remain in first place going into tomorrow's races. I don't feel any pressure at all. There are still a lot of races remaining", she added.
RS:X men's and women's events were postponed to Tuesday due to the inappropriate weather conditions.
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