Rough sea, strong winds leave sailors Nuraisyah, Juni floundering in 19th spot

TOKYO: National sailors Nuraisyah Jamil and Juni Karimah Noor Jamali found the rough sea condition and strong winds at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour here too hot to handle as the pair ended Day One of the women's International 470 event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the bottom three.

However, Olympic debutants Nuraisyah (at the helm) and Juni (as crew) deserve praise for tackling the challenge head-on to finish Race One in 18th spot and 20th in Race Two.

The Polish combination of Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar, who are the world number five, won both the races to lead the overall standings with two net points.

Nuraisyah and Juni, meanwhile, ended up in 19th spot out of 21 pairs with 38 net points. They will compete in Race Three and Race Four on Thursday (July 29).

National coach Muhammad Sahir A Rahim said he had identified several issues which prevented the Malaysians from achieving maximum speed, especially when facing winds with speeds of 20 knots and 2-meter (m) high waves.

"The rough sea and strong wind conditions only happened during today's race. So, after the event ended today we spent a long time at the venue working on correcting the mistakes, especially in terms of handling and system (which hampered their sailing rhythm).

"Stronger winds and bigger waves are expected tomorrow, but we hope that with the preparations we have done today, we will not face any problems," he said, adding that Nuraisyah and Juni do not have much experience sailing in such conditions.

He claimed that such weather conditions favoured the more experienced European sailors, who took full advantage of the situation in both the races today.

-- BERNAMA