Story by Stefanus Ian/Red Sports
Ryan Teo of Singapore won his first race in the 2013 European Championships and never looked back, collecting 10 points and beating Tytus Butowski, the runner-up, by nine points. (Photo courtesy of SingaporeSailing)
Balatonföldvár, Hungary, Saturday, July 6, 2013 — Ryan Teo, 15, of Singapore, won the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) European Championship in commanding fashion. The Victoria School student dominated the competition from the get-go as he consistently scored podium finishes after winning his first race. Grabbing the first position after nine races, Ryan’s tally of 10 points was way ahead of runner-up, Tytus Butowski of Poland, who finished with 19.
The regatta, which was held from June 29 to July 7, saw 248 sailors from 40 countries compete for six days in wide-ranging sailing conditions. The Singapore team that competed in Hungary also included Raynn Kwok, Agylla Jumali and Marsha Shahrin.
Said SingaporeSailing’s general manager, Mr Jason Lim: “It’s high season for the IODA calendar and SingaporeSailing is happy with the achievements of our junior sailors in the major Optimist racing circuit in Europe and North America. Their performance demonstrates the breadth and depth of our fleet and the continuity of the junior development programmes. Congratulations to our young sailors and the support team. And we would like to wish our world’s team who are starting their competition this weekend all the best in their bid to defend Singapore’s world titles in the coming week.”
At the IODA North American Championship in Bermuda, Singapore edged out Argentina to clinch the Nations Cup with a team comprising Samuel Neo, Issac Tang, Serzen Gurung, Phua Shyn Ee, Jodie Lai and Brenda Lim. Samuel Neo, who came in second in last year’s World Championship, was second in the individual event while teammate Phua Shyn Ee came in 10th overall.
Following wins in Europe and North America, Team Singapore are currently defending their World Championship title at the 51st Optimist World Championship in Italy from July 15 to 26. Koh Yi Kun, Bertha Han, Loh Jia Yi, Fathin Rasyiqin and Edward Tan will be looking to repeat last year’s clean sweep of medals.
Edward Tan and Loh Jiayi, the two mainstays from last year’s team, have started strongly. After four races in the individual category, Jiayi (1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd) is in first position overall after winning his first three races in the yellow fleet while Edward is ranked third overall (3rd, 3rd, 1st, 8th).
Yi Kun (1st, 1st, 10th, 18th) is seventh overall following two wins in the blue fleet while Bertha (2nd, 6th, 12th, 38th) is 13th overall after coming in third and sixth in her two races in the red fleet. Meanwhile, Fathin (10th, OCS, 17th, 16th) came in 10th in her first race and was deemed to have started prematurely and was disqualified from the second race.
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