Sailing Competitions ends
Papua New Guinea’s sailing duo Teariki Numa and Rose-Lee Numa hit the water, on Friday, for the final day of the preliminary Laser racing event.
Conditions were completely different to the strong winds and large swells experienced over the prior 4 days of racing, with messy waves and winds gusting 6 to 8 knots on the Enoshima course on Friday.
Both events, Men’s Laser and the Women’s Laser Radial had to restart many times due to too many boats being over the start line when the race began.
Secretary General for PNG Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee member, Auvita Rapilla visited the sailing venue along with Chef de Mission Tamzin Wardley to encourage the sailors before their last two heats out on the water.
Coach Danny Fuller was full of praise to see Rose-Lee and Teariki finish off the last races very positively.
“Rose-Lee has had to tough it out with an Achilles’ injury the last two days. She was in pain getting around the course both days but was determined to complete all of her races. A big thank you to physio Matthew for his skills in getting Rose through the competition” said Fuller.
Teariki saved his best until last with his most consistent day of racing. Better starts allowed Teariki better options on the racecourse and to mix it up more with his competitors to finish off the races positively.
“Rose-Lee and Teariki have made big improvements with many aspects of their sailing. Starting is the most technical and difficult area of the sport and this is the area that they have made the biggest gains. Even though these games have been affected by COVID, they have made many new fantastic friends from all over the world” said Fuller.
Chef de Mission, Tamzin Wardley was proud of the two sailors who finished off strongly.
“Rose Lee had struggled over the last two days of competition with an Achilles injury caused by the tough sailing conditions and constant hiking required in the long legs to the top mark.
“She was determined however to sail on and not miss a moment of her Olympic campaign” said Wardley.
The top 10 sailors from the preliminary rounds will compete in the final round with three races adding to their existing combined scores. The Australian sailor, Matt Wearn is currently leading the overall fleet scores heading into the medal races on 1 August and is on track for the Gold medal in the Men’s Laser event. In the Women’s Laser Radial event, Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom is the leader going into the medal races on Sunday and is the current favourite to claim the Gold medal.
