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| MONSOON CUP SET TO BEGIN THURSDAY |
A squall sweeps across Pulau Duyong Basin as four crews practice for the aptly named Monsoon Cup. (World Tour/Guido Cantini)
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The Sultan of Terengganu (fourth from left), Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, and his wife take in the opening ceremony of the Monsoon Cup. (World Tour/Guido Cantini)
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Crews participating in the Monsoon Cup enjoy a car parade through Terengganu during the opening ceremony. (World Tour/Guido Cantini)
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KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia (Nov. 29, 2006) — The Monsoon Cup, Stage 6 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour, kicked off today with an opening ceremony in the middle of the afternoon.
In the evening the participants, organizers and officials were scheduled to take part in a dinner hosted by the Chief Minister of Terengganu at Wisma Darul Iman, the Terengganu state house.
In its second year, the Monsoon Cup has already become the world’s richest sailing event. Featuring a prize purse of MYR 1 million (approximately $275,000), it will award MYR 250,000 (approximately $70,000) to the champion.
A total of 12 teams are entered, three of which competed last year. The returning sailors and newcomers have marveled at the construction completed in a short amount of time at the Terengganu Heritage Bay Club.
Two massive buildings totaling more than 300,000 square feet, one an entertainment and food and beverage hall, the other an operations center, have mostly been erected in four months. More than 700 workers have been toiling in three shifts, 24 hours a day making the venue ready for the regatta.
“With the way they work here, next year we might see a skyscraper,” said Paolo Cian, of Team Shosholoza.
The construction was all planned, but scheduled to be completed in one year. Datuk Patrick Lim, a director of event organizer T-Best Events and founding father of the Monsoon Cup, felt compelled to push the schedule forward.
“You look at the impact this event and resort have had in the past 18 months and it gives you an idea of how broad the economic impact can be,” said Lim, who is also a director of event organizer T-Best Events. “Waiting another year means the loss of opportunity. It’s another year longer towards achieving our goals.”
The Monsoon Cup was launched last year to help promote the Terengganu Heritage Bay Club and to boost tourism to the eastern state of Malaysia, which typically suffers this time of year due to the monsoon season.
Last year the event generated MYR 73 million (more than $20 million) in gross media value, and this year the hotels are booked when they might otherwise be empty.
Racing for the lucrative purse begins in earnest tomorrow with a number of matches pitting national and regional rivals against each other, as well as leaders in the Match Racing World Championship standings.
Flight 1, Match 1 will see Ian Williams of Team Pindar squaring off against Paolo Cian and Team Shosholoza. Williams leads the standings with 47 points, and Cian is tied for third with 30 points. Both have scored wins in the first five stages. Williams won the Bermuda Gold Cup last month and Cian was victorious at St. Moritz Match Race in August.
Match 2 has Sébastien Col of France’s Areva Challenge for the America’s scheduled to race compatriot Mathieu Richard of the Saba Sailing Team. Col lies seventh in the standings with 29 points after winning Stage 3, the Danish Open, in August, and Richard is sixth in the standings with 30 points after having finished second in Bermuda.
In Flight 3, Match 1, Peter Gilmour, the reigning Monsoon Cup and World Match Racing Champion, races against Peter Holmberg, of America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi. The two are spirited competitors who have a deft touch on the helm and use the rules to their advantage.
Match 4 in the flight pits a pair of Asians against each other in what is believed to be the first such meeting in an ISAF Grade WC match-race regatta. Malaysia’s Tiffany Koo, winner of the first Malaysian Match Race Championship, will race Singapore’s Wearn Haw Tan, a member of the China Team. Tan placed 13th in his World Tour debut at St. Moritz Match Race in August, while Koo is making her debut.
“I’m very excited,” said Koo, who’s celebrating her 22nd birthday today. “I feel lucky to be entered and representing Malaysia. I feel luck because it’s so hard to get the invites.”
For a complete race schedule click here (or past this URL in your browser: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/47336).
Racing in the semifinal and final rounds, Dec. 2 and 3, is scheduled to be broadcast live on the Internet at www.sail.tv. It will also be broadcast live on ESPN/Star Sports, Eurosport, The Sailing Channel, Fox Australia, Sky New Zealand and Showtime Middle East (check local listings for times).
The events of the World Tour serve to determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion. Next year the Monsoon Cup will be the final event of the 2006-’07 season, and will crown the 2007 World Champion.
The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. The World Tour Partner and Official Car is BMW (Munich, Germany). World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor.
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Monsoon Cup Set to Begin Thursday
RELATED CONTENT
2006 Monsoon Cup Photo Gallery
World Tour -- Monsoon Cup Regatta Announcement (Nov. 27, 2006)
Monsoon Cup Lineup Confirmed (Nov. 20, 2006)
Monsoon Cup Set to Become Sailing's Richest Event (Nov. 8, 2006)
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD TOUR
Sean McNeill
Director of Public Relations
Tel: +60 1925 48795
E-mail: smcneill@f10marketing.com
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE MONSOON CUP
Angela Fernandez
Media Manager
Tel: +603 8945 9084
E-mail: angelafernandez@tbest.com.my
MONSOON CUP CREW LIST
Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany
(Crew: Henrik Blaksjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl, Jan Schoepe)
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Fernando Colaninno, Pierluigi Fornelli, David Rae)
Sébastien Col (FRA) Areva Challenge
(Crew: Christophe Andre, Benoit Briand, Gilles Favennec, Thierry Peponnet)
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST
(Crew: Rick Brent, Christian Scherrer, Graeme Spence, Yasuhiro Yaji)
Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net
(Crew: Martin Berntsson, Kalle Kjerstadius, Staffan Lindberg, Magnus Woxen)
Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi
(Crew: Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza, Dean Phipps, Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen)
Tiffany Koo (MAL) Team Selango Gapurna
(Crew: Rolf Heemskerk, Jeremy Koo, Ong Khong Sing, Looi Sing Yew)
Adam Minoprio (NZL) Black Match Racing
(Crew: Nick Blackman, Tom Powrie, Josh Puckey, Dave Swete)
Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team
(Crew: Thierry Barot, Xavier Husson, Yurii Siegel, Zhang Wenpei)
Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team
(Crew: Thierry Briend, Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon)
James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge
(Crew: Magnus Augustson, Torben Grael, Michele Ivaldi, Joe Newton)
Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)
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