Liga Layar Malaysia Match Racing at Pulau Langkawi - Overall
by Maslina Shamsuddin 11 Feb 2014 12:36 GMT
9-11 February 2014
Jeremy Koo of Sime Darby Foundation-KRT has emerged as winners of the first edition of Liga Layar Malaysia (LLM) for 2014 at the National Sailing Centre, overcoming his close rival Mohd Masyuri Rahmat of the Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team.
Light wind conditions again left the sailors through to the semi-finals waiting to get onto the water but managed to finish three flights of races by the end of the day.
The first semi-final race saw Masyuri's navy boys beat Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan and his Permai Hotel Match Racing Team. Koo meanwhile came out on top in his race against Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy of UiTM/MYA Match Racing Team.
The finals pitted the tournament's top two skippers Masyuri and Koo in a replay of last November's battle in Pulau Duyong with Koo once again besting Masyuri in two races. In the petit final meanwhile, Khairulnizam won against Nik Ashraf Qaedi to end his campaign in third place.
By winning this leg of the LLM, Koo and his team took home RM8,000, Masyuri RM5,000 and Khairulnizam RM2,000 in prize money.
Tunku Laksamana Johor, YAM Tunku Abdul Jalil Ibni Sultan Ibrahim, Chairman of Innovatige Sdn Bhd presented the prizes to Koo and his team in a ceremony held after the races. Dato' Mansor Ismail, Malaysia Yachting Association (MYA) Vice President presented Masyuri his winnings while MYA General Manager Mohd Afendy Abdullah gave away the prize to Khairulnizam.
At the same ceremony, three race umpires received their certificates of endorsement as National Match Racing Umpires. They are Commander Malik bin Sulaiman RMN, Lieutenant Commander Chin a/l In and Norhafisham bin Ahmad. The trio became the first ever Malaysian umpires to be certified to be match racing umpires.
The LLM is the local match racing circuit organised to select Malaysia's representative for the Monsoon Cup, the final destination in the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT). Besides Langkawi, other locations in the pipeline for the year include Lumut, Port Dickson, Pulau Duyong, Johor and Port Klang.
Organised by MYA and Innovatige Sdn Bhd - the rights holder to the Monsoon Cup - LLM is part of the Association's effort to answer the government's call to have more sailing tournaments to improve the skills of Malaysian athletes before participating in bigger international events.
Final Standings:
Champion: Jeremy Koo (Sime Darby Foundation – KRT)
Runner-up: Mohd Masyuri Rahmat (Royal Malaysian Navy Match Racing Team)
Third: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (UiTM/MYA Match Racing Team)
Fourth: Nik Ashraf Qaedi Nik Azizan (Permai Hotel Match Racing Team)
Fifth: Muhammad Shaiful Bakhtiar Shariff (SPA Sailing Team)
Sixth: Mohd Faizal Norizan (Royal Langkawi Yacht Club/MYA)