Magnus Holmberg and his Victory Challenge crew focus on securing their place in the finals at Troia Portugal Match Cup 2008 - Troia Portugal Match Cup 2008 © Wander Roberto

During 2008 Holmberg competed in five of the World Match Racing Tour events roller-costing his way through the year from fourth in the Brasil Sailing Cup before dropping back to eleventh in the Korea Match Cup, then back up to third in the Match Cup Sweden, an eighth in the Danish Open before finishing second in the Troia Portugal Match Cup.

These results delivered him a sixth place on the overall Tour ladder with a total of 51 points, just two points behind young guns Adam Monopiro and Torvar Mirsky.

This year will be Holmberg’s third time competing in the Monsoon Cup. In his first year he finished seventh while last year he finished further up the ladder in fourth place.

Italian Paolo Cian is another experienced match racing skipper who returned in 2007 to actively compete in the circuit after taking a few years out to compete in other sailing events including the America’s Cup.

Williams V Cian - St Moritz Match Race 2008 © Loris von Siebenthal http://www.myimage.ch

This year Cian also found himself rolling from the podium to early regatta departure. Placed eighth on the overall Match Race Tour pointscore, Cian has competed in six of this year’s Match Race Tour events. He started out brilliantly winning the Brasil Sailing Cup in April. His next best results were a sixth in the Korea Match Cup and a fifth in the Troia Portugal Match Cup.

Cian will be competing in his third Monsoon Cup. He finished seventh in 2006 and fourth in 2007.

The dark horse of the Monsoon Cup could be Swedish contender Johnie Berntsson. With only two Match Race Tour events under his belt this year, Berntsson and his team have raced strongly in both events placing third behind Willams and Col in the Danish Open, and first ahead of Adam Minoprio and Ben Ainslie in the King Edward VII Bermuda Cup.

Adjusting to the climate of Malaysia and meeting the top match racing teams in a ‘winner take all’ event ,as the teams vie for the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Championship trophy, will be two key challenges facing Berntsson.

Added to the group of veteran match racing sailors competing this year in the Monsoon Cup is four-time World Match Racing Champion is Australian Peter Gilmour.

He started his match racing career on board the Kookaburras in the 1987 America’s Cup defender series. Since then he has continually delivered brilliant results on the match racing circuit.

Competing in previous Monsoon Cups Gilmour has never been out of the top four finishing first in 2005, fourth in 2006 and then back up to second in 2007.

Gilmour and Berntsson - Photo: Dan Ljungsvik © SW

In 2008 Gilmour competed in two World Match Racing Tour events placing ninth in the Korea Match Cup and fifth in the Match Cup Sweden. While out of contention for the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Championship title, Gilmour and his crew he still have the ability to challenge the other highly-talented teams for the Monsoon Cup trophy.