First Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualifier Gets Underway In Thailand

Fifty sailors from Thailand, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia are in Pattaya for the first continental qualifier for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore in August 2010.

The Royal Varuna YC in Thailand is hosting the Asian qualifier for the One Person Dinghy Boys and Girls events at the YOG, with racing in the Byte CII. Thai and Singapore sailors dominated the practice race with 2007 Byte CII World Champion, Keerati Bualong of Thailand winning this warm up. Keerati also won the 2008 Asia-Pacific Byte CII Championship, sailed in Pattaya, but will have his hands full with Darren Choy of Singapore, the current Byte CII World Champion from the Kingston Ontario event.

Singapore, the host nation, automatically qualifies one boy and one girl for the Games, but the remaining qualifiers will be selected from amongst the top three different countries in the final standings for both boys and girls finishers. All Byte CII Championships are open events with male and female sailors scored together and final placings will be based on their finishes in the overall scoring.

Although it is the sailor who will qualify their country with their finish, it should be stressed that this event qualifies the country, not the sailor. The ISAF Member National Authority (MNA) of the qualified country will select the sailor who may, or may not, be the one who sailed in this event.

Click for practice race results

Find out more about the Youth Olympic Games, the events and equipment, the qualification system and more at www.sailing.org/yog.