Singapore sailors win 420 World Championships

By Chan U-Gene, The Straits Times, 7 Aug 2012

Rachel Lee (L) and Cecilia Low (R)

SINGAPORE sailors Rachel Lee and Cecilia Low sailed into the history books on Sunday, becoming the first Asian pair to win the women's 420 World Championships.

Despite strong winds and rough waters in Neusiedler See, Austria, a last-gasp win over Chile's Nadja Horwitz and Sofia Middleton in the 10th and final race was good enough to give them victory in the 36-vessel fleet.

It was Singapore's second accolade in the competition, which began in 1972, after Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng took the men's gold in 2010.

The Chileans had seized command of the five-day contest right from Race 1. But the odds shifted in Lee and Low's favour in Race 7.

Said team manager Mervyn Kwok: "In the seventh, there was heavy wind, about 20 knots. Our girls performed better and caught up a lot."

Explaining that the Singaporeans had a weight advantage, he added: "Our combined weight was 120kg. We needed the weight to balance the boat in the wind. The Chilean girls were smaller than us."

Working their way through the weather, the Singaporeans placed third in Race 10 to finally overhaul the leaders.

The Chileans could not respond to the challenge, finishing fifth in that final race to total 29 points, losing to the Singporeans by just one point.

Singapore's second team of Griselda Khng and Lee Shu Xian were third, a further 25 points behind.

Said Low, 21, who will return today with the rest of the team: "We just kept our cool and tried to catch up. Our experience helped us a lot in coping with the stress and in the tight situations."

The Republic Polytechnic student and Nanyang Technological University student Lee, 19, last combined at the 2010 Asian Games, where they also won gold.

Two months ago, they decided to team up together again for the Austrian regatta.

The 420 is not contested at the Olympics.

With their similar taste in music - listening to Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars - and similar desire for further success, Low and Lee now plan to sail in the skiff event at the Rio 2016 Olympics.