Tuesday 26 / November / 2024
Muscat: Oman Sail’s Olympic 49er squad has narrowly missed out on automatic qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing competition after finishing 6th at the Asian Sailing Championships in Chon Buri, Thailand. The team will now focus on the Last Chance Regatta in Hyères, France, in April, where the final remaining Paris 2024 places will be decided.
Musab Al Hadi and Waleed Al Kindi had qualified for the medal race in 5th place after the first 12 rounds, picking up three podium positions in the process, and went into the final day in contention to overhaul the leaders, but a stunning series of races by Chinese pair Zaiding Wen and Tian Liu, who had led the 49er event all tournament, closed the door on any chance the Omani team had. The Chinese team sailed to victory with ease, adding another three second placed finishes to the four wins they achieved earlier in the week to seal the gold in the medal race.
Teammates Abdul Rahman Al Mashari and Ahmed Al Hassani were forced to retire in the third race of the event and found it difficult to make up the ground, instead preferring to use the event to gain experience and build an understanding as a team. The team finished 12th overall, winning the penultimate round of the race.
Team Leader Hashim Al Rashdi, Oman Sail’s Head Coach Performance, said, “With only one qualification place available and a 21-strong fleet all competing for the honour, we knew we had to sail to the very best of our abilities. We are obviously disappointed with the result, but we are pleased with the performance and the attitude of our team. I am very proud of the team, and we will continue to work hard in training to improve.”
Musab Al Hadi added, “We gave this event everything we had but it was not to be. We will now refocus and head to France in April. We prepared well, sailed well, and came up against very strong competition from China who put in an excellent performance throughout. There is just one place available so the pressure is great, but we will now prepare for France in April and do all we can to claim one of the remaining places.”
China’s Mingliang Ding and Wenwei Zhang finished second to win the silver medal and India’s Prince Noble and Manu Francis finished third to take home the bronze medal.
In total, 18 nations competed at the Asian Sailing Championships across ILCA 6, ILCA 7, 49er, 49erFX, 470 and Nacra 17 classes, as well as sailors from four non-Asian nations.
The Asian Sailing Championships and Asian Continental Qualifier was organised by the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand under the supervision of World Sailing, the Asian Sailing Federation and the Sports Authority of Thailand. More information and full results from the event can be found on the official event website https://www.pattaya-olympic-qualifier.com.
