Chinese team leads 19th IODA Asian Championship

by International Optimist Dinghy Association media on 29 Oct 2008 The 19th IODA Asian Championship in Qatar started racing on Sunday with 61 sailors from ten Asian countries plus the New Zealand second team as guests.

After the first six races (it is reported that the results of Race 7 will not count due to an error in the starting procedure) Chinese sailors Yang Yang (25th in last summer's Worlds) and Zhang Xiaotian lead with the main challenge coming from the recently much improved Thai fleet.

Light winds may account for the relatively poor showing of the Singaporeans but it is great to see Korea having four sailors in the top half of the fleet.

THAILAND win the Team Racing Championship

For the first time in the history of the event Thailand won the IODA Asian Team Racing Championship held in 11-12 knots on Tuesday. In the final they beat off a strong challenge from Malaysia, with China taking bronze ahead of Japan.

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