Malaysia in Monsoon Cup

by Malaysian National News Agency on 12 Jul 2006 For the first time, teams from Malaysia and the Asean region will get to compete in the prestigious Monsoon Cup sailing competition that will be held for the second time in Pulau Duyong off Terengganu from Nov 29 to Dec 3.

The Cup's advisor Datuk Patrick Lim said this had been agreed by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and the World Match Racing Tour, which is the organiser of the Swedish Match Tour (SMT), the Monsoon Cup is affiliated to, following discussions with the managers of the event, T Best Event Sdn Bhd.

'This is a much welcome development,' he told reporters after a briefing session and dialogue on this year's Monsoon Cup at Wisma Darul Iman here Tuesday.

He said a national-level mini-Monsoon Cup would be held from Nov 11 to 13 to select a team to represent Malaysia at the event followed by a regional competition for teams from South-East-Asia. Teams from Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines are expected to take part.

When it was held last year, the event attracted about 20,000 tourists from locally and abroad and also a television viewership of over 550 million worldwide when it was broadcast by the ESPN channel and Euro Sports TV.

Lim said more people were expected to turn up this year as it would be open to the public without any charge.

He said that there were not enough facilities last year to accommodate a large crowd but the needed infrastructure, including viewing grandstands, restaurants and washrooms were being built this year.

The event organiser was also organising side activities in Pulau Duyong and Kuala Terengganu, among them traditional boat racing, kayak racing, rafting competitions and cultural shows to keep viewers entertained, he said.

The inaugural event in 2005 was won by the current World Match Racing Champion, Australian Peter Gilmour who beat Kiwi Russell Coutts in the grand final.