KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian team to the inaugural Star Sailors League (SSL) Gold Cup are hoping to secure a top-two finish in the group at the qualifying series in Switzerland to advance to the final series.
Racing in Group 7 of the fifth round with India and South Africa, the qualifying series is scheduled for July 14-17 at Lake Neuchatel, where the top two teams from the group will advance to the final to be held at the end of October in Bahrain.
According to the statement from the team, China was also initially grouped with Malaysia, but withdrawn due to the country’s Covid-19 restrictions.
Olympian and Asian Games double silver medallist Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy said, the crew had worked tirelessly during training in Port Klang and Langkawi to prepare for the event.
“We’re targeting a top-two finish in our grouping because from there we’ll qualify for the final, yet in terms of preparations, most of the crew have been training while I’ve been busy with the Olympic circuit,” said Khairulnizam.
Khairulnizam also emphasized the team’s hard work in training and competing as they had one last push in Hungary to gain time for bonding and chemistry after a week of training.
“We’ll give it one final touch before the qualification series goes underway. Hopefully, everything goes ahead accordingly,” he added.
South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Ukraine will be competing in the Group 8 of the qualifying series at the same time.
The SSL Gold Cup will see participation from the top 56 sailing nations in the world with Malaysia ranked 51st in the world.
The Malaysian team nicknamed ‘The Monsoon’ comprise 11 national athletes, but only nine will sail during the competition at a time.
The team includes Khairulnizam, Mohamad Faizal Norizan, Asri Azman, Nuraisyah Jamil, Ahmad Khairulhafiz Ahmad Khmbali, Muhamad Uzair Amin Mohd Yusof, Ong Khong Shing, Ahmad Faizul Aswad Mohamed, Ahmad Hakhimi Ahmad Shukri, Mohd Amsyar Syahmi Mohd Ajwi and Mohd Azhar Sa’don Zubir.
In late 2021, the SSL Gold Cup held three eight-nation test events in Switzerland as Malaysia finished third behind South Africa and Thailand, ahead of France, Mexico, Ukraine, Turkey and Tahiti in the first test event of the competition.-Bernama