Slovenia Match Cup - Neugodnikov cekebrates win, Minoprio his birthday

by Jana Pines on 21 Jun 2010 Slovenia Match Cup - Thanks to great wind conditions since the beginning of the event, organizers managed to carry through the whole program in just three days instead of four as scheduled.

Principal Race Officer Bojan Gale in fact decided to hurry up with the matches since bad weather was predicted for the last day. In accordance with the competitors, he pulled off semifinal and final duels a day before schedule and completed the mission successfully only an hour before the cold front reached the host town of Koper.

In the first round robin, Philip Robertson (NZL) seemed invincible, and after defeating 3:0 Michele Perris (MON) in semifinals, many thought he would be the one to conquer the cup. But the pressure for Kiwis in the end was too much and probably the concentration dropped on least convenient time.

In the final performances they inflicted two penalties to the opponent Russian team, but Neugodnikov still managed to win smoothly all three decisive matches. 'This is my third visit to Koper. I've sailed here before, I know the local conditions as well as the boats. Therefore I tried to take advantage from previous experiences and made it,' said Neugodnikov, who doesn't believe this victory will be enough to enter the top ten on Isaf sailing ranking.

Despite he placed fourth, world match racing champion Adam Minoprio had also a reason for celebrating. He just turned 25 and organizers surprised him with a bottle of mayor's wine and extra virgin olive oil. 'I promised Michele Perris to join his team and this was the right occasion.

I enjoyed very much being a tactician even though the conditions were pretty tricky. Hopefully I'll be back next year, but this time as a skipper,' said Minoprio, as he was leaving for the Portugal Match Cup. Third place went to last year's winner Ian Ainslie (RSA).

http://www.cleanport.si/smrc/newsenglish.html