NEWS

 

Click here to catch all the action from the SIM 33rd Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championship 2014!!!

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

Singapore to host the YOG Continental Qualifiers for Windsurfing as part of SIM 33rd Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championship 2014

 

Some of Asia’s best windsurfers will converge at the National Sailing Centre for the SIM 33rd Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championship (SOAWC) – the biggest event on the local windsurfing calendar. 

 

Sanctioned by the International Windsurfing Association (IWA), this year’s edition is expected to welcome throngs of windsurfers from almost 10 countries, namely, Hong Kong, Japan, Taipei, South Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, India and Russia – to date the organisers have received more than 100 entries with more expected to sign up on the actual registration day. 

 

Set to go on from the 22nd to 26th January 2014, the event will feature the Techno 293 Asian Continental Championships, which will serve as the Asian Continental Qualification event for Windsurfing for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games taking place in August in Nanjing later this year. With only three spots each in the boys and girls windsurfing events up for contention, sailors from around Asia will surely fight tooth and nail to qualify their countries. 

 

Additionally, the Olympic class, RS:X, and the ex-Olympic class, Mistral One Design, will also be awarding Asian titles. These two classes have great significance in Asia, as they are events, both for women and men in the 17th Incheon Asian Games taking place in September 2014.

 

Who to look out for

 

Hong Kong sailor Ma Kwan Ching is going from strength to strength – having bagged the Techno 293 Youth Girl Champion’s title at the last year’s edition, and two 2nd places at major windsurfing events in Asia (Hong Kong Open Windsurfing Championships and 2013 RS:X Asian Championships) last year, she will definitely be looking to continue her string of successes in the RS:X Youth Women event at the upcoming SOAWC. The young Hong Kong maestro has proven her ability to deal superbly with a whole host of conditions, and is one lady who will 

need to be watched carefully over the duration of the event. 

 

Fellow compatriot from Hong Kong, Kikabhoy Rafeek, who was the Techno 293 Youth Boy Champion at the SIM 32nd Open Windsurfing Championship, will be in the running for the Champion’s title in the RS:X Youth Men event this year. Having shown brilliant consistency over the past year – he was crowned the RS:X Youth Boys Champion at the 2013 RS:X Asian Championships, and he took the second place at the RS:X Hong Kong Open Windsurfing Championships –, he’ll be hoping to maintain his form in the first major windsurfing event of the 

year, as he looks to finish on the prestigious podium at the end of this week. 

 

Also from Hong Kong, Lee Chun Ting is the one to look out for in the Mistral One Design class. Having come in third at the RS:X Open Youth European Windsurfing Championships last year, he will be looking to show his fellow competitors that he’s got what it takes to challenge the very best.

 

Singapore will be represented by 2010 Youth Olympic Games Bronze medallist Audrey Yong who will be joined by fellow windsurfers, Ynez Lim and Wallace Gan, who took Silver and Bronze respectively in the RS:One eventat the recently-concluded 27th SEA Games in Myanmar. Audrey Yong will be competing in the RS:X class, while Ynez Lim and Wallace Gan will be pitting their skills against some of the finest youth windsurfers in the Techno 293 Youth class, as they attempt to help Singapore secure a slot in the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. 

 

With strong entry lists in all classes, the event is expected to deliver some exceptionally exciting action – it will definitely be thrilling week of competition ahead, so be sure to swing by to witness it yourself!

 

The SOAWC will take place from 22 January onwards at the National Sailing Centre, with racing commencing on 23 January and final races to take place on 26 January.