News : Tiffany going for hat-trick

THE biggest name in this year's Malaysian Match Racing Championship (MMRC) is undoubtedly Tiffany Koo, a two-time winner of the event.

Tiffany, who emerged champion in 2006 and 2007, has been training hard in her attempt to make it a winning hat-trick when she represents the Royal Selangor Yacht Club (RSYC) racing under the name of Koo Racing Team.

This year's three-day MMRC is at Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort and Spa in Pulau Duyong starting on Wednesday and will be followed by the Asian Match Racing Championship on Oct 25-28. The winners earn a berth in the Nov 30-Dec 5 Monsoon Cup at the same venue. A third qualifier will be the winner of the SunseekerAustralia Cup.


The three will join the top eight sailors in the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) plus one wild card in the Monsoon Cup, the season ending race on the WMRT. The world's top sailors will all be in Terengganu with five skippers still in the race to be crowned world champion.

After eight of the nine rounds in this season's WMRT, Mathieu Richard has accumulated 105 points to lead defending World Champion and 2009 Monsoon Cup winner Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing by 15 points.

Britain's Ben Ainslie of Teamorigin. a multiple Olympic gold medallist, is a further two points behind Minoprio but has the momentum after his stunning victory in the recent Argo Gold Cup, the penultimate round of the WMRT.


Torvar Mirsky's Mirsky Racing Team of Australia and two-time world champion Ian Williams' Team GAC Pindar of Britain are the other skippers still in with a chance to top the standings.

Dane Jesper Radich of the Radich Racing Team, Italian Francesco Brunic of Azzurra and Australian Peter Gilmour of YANMAR Racing round up the top eight, who all get automatic berths to the Monsoon Cup.

Tiffany, who won a gold medal in the laser category at the 2001 Sea Games, will start as the hot favourite to regain the title.


Defending MMRC champion Hazwan Hazim, who has returned to Perak a year after winning the title while sailing for Terengganu, will be Tiffany's main rival in this year's competition. Nurul Ain Mohd Isa, the 2008 MMRC Champion, will not be racing.

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