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18 Nov 2010

Japan Dominates at Asian Games

 

Racing is well underway at the 16th Asian Games, taking place in Shanwei, China. The 470 fleets host a pile of Asian nations who are all active in the 470 Class. However, it is not surprising that it is the top Asian team on the ISAF Sailing World Rankings who are dominating so far in the 470 men fleet, with Ryunosuke Harada and Yuugo Yoshida from Japan way out in front.

Harada and Yoshida have been the star team from Japan for a number of years and currently hold an ISAF Sailing World Ranking of #15. With a score line of 5 race wins from the 8 races held so far – this pair will be a challenge to overtake. However, the Chinese team of Weidong Wang and Dakokun Deng are giving it everything – and have claimed the other 3 race wins. This team are yet to achieve an ISAF World Ranking and so hard to refer to past form, but clearly this is a young team to watch.

In third are Korea's Daeyoung Kim and Sungahn Jung who have achieved consistent top 5 places in the series so far. Daeyoung and Jung are Korea's top placed team on the ISAF Sailing World Rankings, sitting at #60. They finished 23 at the 2010 470 World Championships in Holland which marked their best result this season. More crucially for them they are the defending champions in the 470 from the 2006 Asian Games - so they will be digging deep to catch the Japanese in what is an immense task.

With two more days of racing scheduled to complete the 12-race series, there are now only four opportunities for the teams to close the gap and seal their missions.

Joining Japan, China, Korea, Singapore and the Phillipines are teams from Malaysia and Pakistan.

The women's 470 fleet is dominated by Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) with 7 race wins from the 8 races - another outstanding display of sailing by the Japanese.

More Information:
Asian Games – 470 Men Results
Asian Games - 470 Women Results

Image: Ryunosuke Harada and Yuugo Yoshida (JPN) at the 2010 470 World Championships © Thom Touw