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20 March 2005, 08:48 am

Semi Final Lineup

Marseille International Match Race 2005

Marseille, France

After a full day of racing in Marseille the semi final lineup for this ISAF Grade 1 event is complete. Two home competitors take their place alongside two of match racing's greatest names.

After the morning mist had lifted, the weather was bright and sunny for the last flight of the first round robin and the second stage with six competitors. The wind was westerly force two to three, veering south-west.

Racing started today around 1200 hours (local French time) with the last flight of the first round robin which saw Chris DICKSON (NZL), Ed BAIRD (USA), Sébastien COL (FRA), Philippe PRESTI (FRA), Paolo CIAN (ITA) and Mathieu RICHARD (FRA) qualifying for a round robin for six.

With three points yesterday and one match left against BAIRD this morning, RICHARD was far from certain to qualify for the second stage... and yet that is exactly what he did. He was tied with Ian WILLIAMS after the first round robin, but his victory against the Englishman gave him the advantage, and a ticket for the next stage, leaving the English without a representative left in Marseille.

As the top-ranked Frenchman at number four on the ISAF World Match Racing rankings, he went on to qualify for the semi-finals by beating his compatriot COL and the Italien CIAN .

At the end of the five flights, at 1800, the names of the semi-finalists were finally known. Current ISAF World Match Racing Champion BAIRD, was unsurprisingly amongst the qualifiers as was former World Champion, DICKSON. These two were joined the French duo, PRESTI and RICHARD .

Ranking of the Second Stage Round Robin

1 Ed BAIRD
2 Chris DICKSON
3 Philippe PRESTI
4 Mathieu RICHARD
5 Paolo CIAN
6 Sébastien COL