Korea Match Cup - Williams through to semi-final

by Jo Gawith on 13 Jun 2010 Korea Match Cup saw Team GAC Pindar’s World Match Racing sailor, Ian Williams enjoy another successful day in South Korea, winning the round-robin stages and securing a place in the semi-final.

After three more races on day four of the event, Williams completed his round-robin matches with two further wins against Francesco Bruni (Azzurra) and Torvar Mirsky (Mirsky Racing Team) and a loss to current Tour leader Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team). His 8-3 tally against all 11 fellow competitors saw Williams top the round-robin leader board, to secure his place in the quarter-finals.

In rainy conditions and winds gusting from 8-12 knots, Williams faced Bertrand Pace (Aleph Sailing Team) in the quarter-final, who he defeated 3-0. Having dominated the first two races, the Team GAC Pindar crew found themselves trailing in race three, but fought hard to close the gap and passed Pace, in an exciting finish, across the line.

Williams has now elected to race against Bjorn Hansen (Hansen Global Team) in the semi-final, leaving Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team) and Torvar Mirsky (Mirsky Racing Team) to battle it out in the other semi-final.

Speaking from Korea, Williams commented: “It’s been another good day and we were naturally delighted to win the round-robin, but those points only really serve to get us through to the next stage. We sailed well against Bertrand and are all looking forward to more exciting racing tomorrow, where we’ll be hoping to secure some valuable Tour points.'

Racing concludes tomorrow, where one of the skippers will be crowned Korea Match Cup Champion 2010 and will take away a share of the M Won 300,000,000 ($250,000 USD) prize purse.

For more information, please visit: www.teampindar.com