Match Race Thailand Championship - Eleven teams battle it out

by Jordan Rumsby (As Amended by ISAF) on 20 Mar 2014 In near perfect sailing conditions, eleven international teams prepared to race, each team vying for the title and all important ranking points at The Kingdom Property Match Race Thailand Championships.

Spectators were treated with a wealth of top name skippers including Bjorn Hansen of Sweden ranked world number three and other top match racers from Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, India and Thailand. The organizers supplied well suited boats, identically matched Platu 25 class yachts each fast and maneuverable and ready for battle.

A round robin series with 55 sailing matches was completed on the first two days with each skipper racing against each other to decide the rankings before the semi-finals.

Jeremy Koo (MAS) and Gunwoo Park (KOR) both won eight races, losing only two. Not far behind were Singapore's Maximilian Soh and Justin Liu still winning an impressive seven races to secure the last two spots in the semi-final. Jon Eriksson (FIN) and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) both missed out on the semi-finals by just a point coming fifth and position sixth respectively.

The semi-final spots were agreed, Koo was to race against Liu in the first final. After Koo's impressive round robin result he was the favourite however Liu put in a strong performance beating Koo 2-0 to reach the final.

The second semi-final between Soh and Park was a much tighter affair with each skipper winning a race of the best of three semi-final. In the final race Soh won the pre-start to round each mark in first position, ultimately securing his spot in the final.

A grudge match race awaited in the finals between two very competitive Singaporean teams, Soh and the younger Liu in a best of three series. In a dying wind, the more experienced match racer Soh got the better of his compatriot winning the final 2-0 and ultimately taking the Click here for overall ISAF website