SEA Games: Sailors Lim and Siew lead gold rush

They won all but one of their 10 races and clinched gold with two to spare.

Singapore 420 girls pair Kimberly Lim and Savannah Siew have been in imperious form at the 27th South-east Asia (SEA) Games in Ngwe Saung, but they insist it has by no means been a walk in the park.

Speaking to The New Paper on Thursday, Savannah, 17, said: "The winds were quite strong on the first day which we could get used to, but the waves were quite unpredictable as well.

"We were penalised in the second race because we jumped the gun at the start line and the competition became more intense in the later races."

Other than a blip in the second race, where they were given a six-point penalty, the pair - who finished second in the ladies fleet of the 420 World and Ladies Championships - won the other nine races, including the two held on Thursday, to claim the gold medal with eight points.

Malaysia's Nuraisyah Jamil and Umi Norwahida Sallahuddin were a distant second on 19 points.

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Said Savannah: "Ahead of today's two races, we just followed our normal routine and focused on not making the small mistakes, and we did well to win both."

In addition to the 420 girls, Elizabeth Yin also clinched gold in the Laser Radial with 13 points after 11 races, five ahead of nearest challenger Nur Amirah Hamid of Malaysia with one race to go.

Edward Tan joined in the celebrations for SingaporeSailing after he claimed the Optimist boys' gold with 10 points from 10 races, beating Malaysia's Muhamad Dhiauddin, who is in second place with 18 points.

Regatta leader Fathin Rasyiqin is in a good position to win the Optimist with two races to go, although Thailand's Kamonchanok Kiahan can still overtake her.

Singapore's sailors in eight other events are also in contention for podium finishes after the penultimate day of racing on Thursday, with only Merrick Phang out of contention for medals in the RS ONE Open.

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